I love reader questions.

And this week I have a go at answering one I received from a long-term member and all-round nice guy, Trevor.

Trevor writes…

I recently purchased some wine at auction. I was fortunate to get some back vintages.

There are differing points of view about opening and serving older wines.

Are there any references I can look up to guide me, to opening and enjoying these older wines? I have some from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.

Some say overnight breathing is best, whilst others say an hour or so prior to drinking is enough. There seems a big divide. I have found an aerator is also useful – even with current-release wines.

Does it also matter if they are different varieties, ie Shiraz to Cabernet, to lighter reds such as Merlot and grenache? Cork Vs Stelvin?

I’d love your thoughts.

Thanks, Trevor. I really do love answering your questions (ie. I love it when you come up with new ideas for me to write about!)

 

First of all…

What do we mean by “breathing”?

When people talk about letting a wine “breathe”, this is about exposing the wine to oxygen before you drink it.

Wine is a collection of chemical compounds. When wine is uncorked and poured into glassware, those compounds undergo two chemical processes: oxidation and evaporation.

Both of these processes help minimize unwanted flavors in wine. Also, aerating some wines is broadly considered to release more of the wine’s aromas and soften tannins.

You can let a wine breathe by decanting it, but several experts believe that simply swirling the wine in your glass can have the desired effect in many cases.

There are kitchen gadgets that claim to aerate wine. I wrote a blog post about them a couple of years back. You can check it out here.

What most experts can agree on is that just opening the wine and leaving the contents in the bottle won’t really help.

The neck opening is so small that your wine isn’t going to get enough air in time for dinner, nor probably even for tomorrow morning’s breakfast.

 

 

Which wines should be aerated?

YOUNG RED WINES

Wines are most tannic when they’re young.

So young wines, especially reds (such as Cabernet) that have high tannic profiles do well with a bit of aeration. It allows the tannins to mellow a bit, softening the wine’s harsh edges and making it a more pleasant drinking experience that isn’t overpowered by a tannic punch.

In this sense, wine aeration is trying to replicate the wine’s natural aging process.

But with true bottle aging, many other chemical reactions take place over time which can’t be made up for by decanting alone.

But on the plus side, you’re impatient and want to drink that bold red NOW, and aerating allows you to taste the backbone flavors and aromas that can then be brought up to the surface of your palate, without the hassle and risk of wine storage. 

Rule of thumb: the younger and more tannic the wine – the longer it needs to breathe. An hour is usually enough to soften the tannins and enjoy a young, robust red wine.

 

OLD RED WINES

the sediment in aged wines is made up of tannins that have bound together through age and are no longer suspended. This surplus of tannins, even if on the bottom of the bottle, can cause old reds to grow bitter. And aeration is a great antidote to that. If there’s any chance you’re going to open a wine bottle that has sediment in it, let the wine stand upright for 12–16 hours for the sediment to settle.

A note on old red wines: Be careful with older vintages, which can be much more sensitive once opened and may lose fruit aromas much more quickly. Don’t use an aerator with these wines. Just decant them gently and let them breathe for no longer than about 15 minutes.

 

WHITE WINE

Yes, you can aerate white wine. But only some white wines benefit from aeration.

The rule of thumb is that the heavier and more red-like a white, in terms of complexity and body, the more it will benefit from aeration. Think Burgundies, white Bordeaux wines and some Chardonnays.

The reason why the majority of white wines don’t need aeration is that they’re typically young wines. They don’t have the tannins or the age that require their bouquet or flavor profile to be tempered. In fact, aeration can even reduce the flavours and aroma in this wine because they will become oxidated more quickly.

 

One last thing…

Do try it at home

Perhaps the best thing to do is conduct your own research, which may necessarily involve opening a bottle or two before you set the rest aside (if you’re able)

You could make a ‘minimal-oxygenating’ decant by running the wine down the side of the decanter.

Or a ‘maximal-oxygenating’ decant by pouring fast, directly to the bottom of the decanter to create as much splashback (surface area in contact with air) as possible.

For in-glass aeration, you could blow over the surface of the wine.

Or, if your glass is small enough (your hand big enough), you can place one hand over the top of the glass and give it a shake! More or less vigorously for more or less aeration.

Have fun experimenting!

 

If you’re not able to do that, get online and do some research. Learn about its structure and flavour profile. This should give you some hints about how it will react to some aeration.

 

Let’s finish with some science…

Does it really make a difference?

You’ll hear many wine critics talk about how a wine’s character can change in the glass over time, and over several days once the bottle has been uncorked. Perhaps you have also noticed this yourself.

In 2016, an article in the Journal of Agricultural Chemistry found evidence that ethanol evaporates once a wine has been poured into the glass, slightly lowering the alcohol content. It said this was strongly influenced by exposure to air.

As part of this process, the researchers noted that, ‘Evaporation also resulted in decreases in the concentration of some fermentation volatiles and a perceptible change in wine aroma.’

Professor Andrew Waterhouse, a wine chemist at UC Davis in California, wrote in Scientific American back in 2004 that ‘a wine’s aroma will change during the first 10 to 30 minutes the bottle is open’.

He said that decanting accelerates the breathing process by encouraging volatile aromas to evaporate and emphasising fruit and oak aromas.

However, he also said that decanting may not improve less complex wines designed for immediate consumption, while some white wines’ fruit aromas could actually lose intensity.

Others have argued that advances in winemaking mean that fewer wines require the sort of aeration that might have been considered beneficial in the past.

I hope that’s answered your question, Trevor!

If you have a question you’d like to see answered in the blog, shoot me an email. I’d love to help!