Does a wine really need to breathe?

Lots of people have asked me this on my wine tastings. Is it necessary and what does it do anyway? The answer is definitely ‘yes’ but the amount required will depend on the type and age of the wine. Generally, the heavier and more tannic the wine the more it will benefit from being allowed to breathe.

Don’t just remove the cork and leave the bottle on the kitchen side, the surface area in the neck of the bottle is about the size of a 1p/1 cent coin so you need to give the wine a chance by increasing the surface area. The traditional way to do this is with a wide bottomed decanter, failing that a kitchen jug and if that’s not available then at least pour two tasting glasses so that you lower the level of the wine in the bottle to the widest part as just doing this will increase the surface area exposed to oxygen ten-fold! The hardest part is then to resist the temptation to drink the tasting samples straight away! If you can be strong then I suggest you take a small sip every 20 minutes in that first hour and note how much the wine improves.

I committed a schoolboy error recently, arriving at a friend’s house with a Rioja Gran Reserva which we duly opened and started drinking immediately – it was delicious so why wouldn’t you? Twenty minutes later we topped up our glasses and noted how the wine was now even better than the first glass! And twenty minutes later it was again even better and the final glass, just over an hour after opening the bottle was incredible – if only we’d waited the whole bottle could have been that good.

Of course, not all wines are as complex as a Gran Reserva so if it is a light, fruity red such as a Burgundy Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais Gamay then much less breathing is required but it will benefit from some aeration. Most light inexpensive reds are intended to be drunk immediately and whilst they may open up a bit after a few minutes they are never going to change that much, unless you have a very young Cabernet Sauvignon with loads of youthful bitter tannins that really shouldn’t have been released yet anyway.

Do white wines benefit from being allowed to breathe?
Generally the more full-bodied the wine, red or white, the more it needs aeration so if it’s a big Burgundy or Alsace white or an oaked Chardonnay from Australia or a Gruner Veltliner from Austria then they will definitely benefit from getting some oxygen into them but not to the same extent as the reds.

One issue with decanting whites is keeping them chilled – however our domestic fridges are designed to keep food fresh rather than wines at the right temperature and are generally around 5 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit) and that’s too cold for most full-bodied whites, which are the ones that would most benefit from breathing. So actually, splashing them into a decanter for a couple of minutes would raise the temperature slightly as well as getting some air into them to loosen up those tastes and aromas that you’re after.

If you have a small funnel, then you could always decant the wine back into its original bottle before serving to your guests. This would introduce more oxygen into the wine and your guests can also see what the wine is that they are drinking. It might also be easier to handle and to keep chilled.