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Let that sucker breath! I used to laugh at folks that would tell me to do this, but have become a believer.


Actually mdrew, you will be glad to know that science supports this concept, although to what extent the flavour changes is a bit hard to test since technically both bottles of wine for testing would have to be open to the air before tasting. Granted the time difference in allowing oxygen (the real factor in air/breathing) to affect the wine would still be longer vs. shorter.

In any event, oxygen and wine, and the hundreds if not thousands of chemical compounds that make up the liquid (phenols, glycosides, numerous esters and ketones, many acids such as malic and lactic, flavenoids, acetyls, etc. etc.) interact immediately and constantly. However the rates of those reactions will vary and although some are relatively quick, most are not. I've heard about the various suggestions for times to aerate a red wine and it goes from anywhere between 20 minutes to several hours. Sometimes an excess of sulfide gas is retained in the small air pocket in the bottle and often this is another reason for allowing a wine to breath, to allow the rather unpleasant sulfides to dissipate. Keep in mind that even white wines may exhibit changes when exposed to oxygen after opening but given their more simple structure (MANY less pigmented tannins) the oxygenation process may not have as profound an effect.

The simple point is that there is no doubt, oxygen is a major player in the formation of wine components and aerating a wine will begin a change in its character. Also note that the longer one leaves a bottle open, on a counter say, the more the alcohol evaporates over time. Acidity levels can vary but i personally have found that some wines that were harsh in alcohol presence the night before are much softer on the nose the next day.

If anyone is really getting into the wine thing, i highly recommend this tome called The Oxford Companion to Wine. It is essentially an encyclopedia of wine terms but it is extremely informative and bloddy heavy.

"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."