Best way for wine to breathe
Best way for wine to breathe
(OP)
I have been having a long time discussion with friends about the best way for wine to breathe. They say take the cork out and let it stand for one hour. I think that wine will breathe better in a glass but mine would never stand for one hour.
To my way of thinking leaving wine in the bottle means the empty volume just gets saturated with vapours and then it stops breathing. In a glass the natural circulation of air keeps changing the vapours so the wine keeps breathing.
Any ideas about this technical matter will be appreciated.
athomas236
To my way of thinking leaving wine in the bottle means the empty volume just gets saturated with vapours and then it stops breathing. In a glass the natural circulation of air keeps changing the vapours so the wine keeps breathing.
Any ideas about this technical matter will be appreciated.
athomas236





RE: Best way for wine to breathe
I've had the pleasure and opportunities to taste some of the most admired and expensive wines in both sides of the Atlantic ocean that a world-scale project's budget could endure and I maintain that the only wine expert to respect is your own taste buds.
I simply have never had anyone prove to me that so-called "breathing" makes any difference to a wine that is worthwhile drinking or, much less, discussing. My experience has been that once the cork is popped, the good wines reveal themselves directly. They need no stimulation, additives, adjectives or, worse, hesitation. I don't enjoy a wine through my nostrils as I do through my mouth; and my taste buds, to my satisfaction, have never let me down.
A good wine is like a good woman: the more you enjoy them, the better off you are; the more you discuss them and air them, the more frailties and faults you'll find.
I hate to depart from such an interesting, technical, and serious subject matter but I have a young and unbruised bottle of Beaujolais that clamors attention.
Art Montemayor
Spring, TX
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
Wine bottled will last many years, wine stored in the decanter will sour much more quickly (on the order of weeks)...
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
However I am firmly with Monte on this. Even though some wines do change character as they breath, it is not as if they are undrikable at first, or 'better' later.
I like tasting the entire progression.
The only time that I would decant a wine is if it had a lot of sediment that I wanted to filter. Even then, if it is just for me I can drink around the mud.
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Corrosion never sleeps, but it can be managed.
http://www.trenttube.com/Trent/tech_form.htm
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
After it had been open for 2-3 hours we re-sampled it and it was splendid. Naturally we cried for the one down the sink.
I believe that old wines need to breathe either to get rid of volatile compounds, or to oxidise some unpleasant compounds. In the bottle seems to work.
Bottoms up
Jeff
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
Perhaps beginning the evening with a couple of shots of vodka would have made even the first glass taste acceptable?
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
If I open a bottle and the wine smells hot or sharp I will pour a small glass and let it stand 30min or so. If I don't like it then I won't bother with it. But it is amazing what happens in the first few minutes with some wines.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Corrosion never sleeps, but it can be managed.
http://www.trenttube.com/Trent/tech_form.htm
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
athomas236
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
Friar Tuck of Sherwood
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
The question to be answered by some ChemE smarter than me is whether the reduced flow area of the bottle neck, as compared to the relatively open area of a typical wine glass would impede the change in " concentration gradients," or the "mass transport" rates.
It is a question any decent engineer would want to know (at least before the vodka kicked in).
rmw
RE: Best way for wine to breathe
You have summarised the question well
athomas236