The myth of letting wines breathe

The world of fine wine, as a matter of fact, is full of myths or mistaken notions, often passing for gospel. Take the idea of letting a wine “breathe” – that is to say, opening a bottle or decanting it into another container long before drinking it, ostensibly to allow it to “improve” with the exposure to oxygen. There is indeed many a wine expert (especially wine boors) who would never dream of enjoying a good bottle of red wine unless it has been given a chance to “breathe” for at least an hour.

In a December 1997 issue of Decanter – a highly respected wine periodical published in the U.K., which also happens to bill itself as “The World’s Best Wine Magazine” (and many wine experts would not disagree) – there was a report on a blind tasting involving six of the world’s most discriminating wine judges. These judges included Hugh Johnson (the author of more best selling wine books than anyone), Steven Spurrier (the original organizer of the infamous “Paris Tasting” of 1976), Serena Sutcliffe (a Master of Wine), and Patrick Léon (a famous winemaker for several Bordeaux châteaux, such as Mouton-Rothschild).

In this tasting, the esteemed judges were asked to assess the quality of several red wines from France’s classic Bordeaux region (including 1961 Mouton-Rothschild, a 1982 Clerc-Milon, a 1980 d’Armailhac, and a 1990 Mouton-Cadet) that were

Uncorked a few minutes ahead of time, and then poured and tasted
Uncorked a few hours ahead of time, and then poured and tasted
Uncorked and poured into a decanter a few minutes ahead of time, before poured into glasses and tasted
Uncorked and poured into a decanter a few hours ahead of time, before poured into glasses and tasted
Uncorked, and then immediately poured into glasses and tasted (that is, no “breathing” at all).

For which wines, across the board, did these wine judges ultimately show the most preference? You guessed it: the wines that were uncorked, immediately poured and tasted. It turns out that “breathing” – whether for a few minutes, or a few hours – doesn’t really “improve” wine at all. At least not according to this stellar panel.

Young wines need to breath. Acidic ones in particular. People can believe it or not, but its so self evident I wouldn’t bother to debate anyone on it. With older wines it really depends on the wine and usually a full decant will detract from the wine. A slow ox method is much better.

Well, that finally settles that!

Next up, “cheap wine is the same as expensive wine.”

We finally can add a fourth biggest lie the the gool old list of three.
Thank you esteemed judges!

Decanter did another trial of this kind within the past year or so. It was pretty interesting, but not particularly conclusive. I think the general conclusion was that decanting doesn’t hurt, but may not help.

Having said that, I tend to subscribe to the thoughts on this written by Prof. Waterhouse of UC Davis, which can be found in this article:

Mr. Waterhouse thought the elimination of sulfur aromas is all that these accessories — or, for that matter, aeration — had to offer.

“A number of sulfur compounds are present in wine in traces and have an impact on flavor because they’re very potent,” he said. “Some are unpleasant and some contribute to a wine’s complexity. You can certainly dispose of these in five minutes with a little oxygen and a small area of metal catalyst to speed the reactions up, and change your impression of the wine.”

But Mr. Waterhouse maintained that no brief treatment could convert the tannins to less astringent, softer forms, not even an hour in a decanter.

“You can saturate a wine with oxygen by sloshing it into a decanter, but then the oxygen just sits there,” he said. “It reacts very slowly. To change the tannins perceptibly in an hour, you would have to hit the wine with pure oxygen, high pressure and temperature, and powdered iron with a huge catalytic surface area.”

So why do people think decanting softens a wine’s astringency?

“I think that this impression of softening comes from the loss of the unpleasant sulfur compounds, which reduces our overall perception of harshness,” Mr. Waterhouse said.

For me, there is zero question that aerating a wine (particularly a young one) is beneficial.

That’s interesting. I’ve recently read in the “Gout du vin” of E. Peynaud a similar position: he said that making wine breath is useless. On the other hand this seems contrary to my everyday experience, especially of nebbiolo-based wine drinkers. What I suspect is that it depends from wine to wine, and probably a burgundy or a bordeaux (of which I have very little experience) needs much less oxygen than a barolo…

Well, there is ‘science’, and there is ‘perception’, and there is ‘experience’ - and oftentimes, the three are at odds.

It’s impossible to say whether breathing simply ‘blows off’ the unpleasant sulfur compounds or if there is more involved. All I know is that when I let a wine breath in a glass, it ‘changes’ - both aromatically and my perception of its flavors and its structure, especially with younger wines.

But heck, what do I know?!?!?

Cheers

Well, in the grand scheme of things, they are probably correct to a point as most of the world wines are made accessible and in a forward style so they are probably not speaking of many of the wines we collectively enjoy.

Breathing definitely helps premoxed whites. An hour or so in a decanter can “freshen up” a premoxed white, maybe not to where it should be, but can make an undrinkable wine at least somewhat enjoyable.

Now that the breathing myth is busted, I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on the myth of the wet cork. That’s the one where people look at me like I’m from outer space when I bring it up, but I don’t believe bottles need to be on their sides or upside down while aging. In the tens of thousands of bottles I’ve opened, I’ve yet to see a dry cork that was so dry it came out of the bottle easily. Just the opposite. You could push a completely soaked cork into the bottle with your pinkie, but a dry cork keeps wine in the bottle and air out better than a wet cork.

We used to blow bubbles in our wine glasses with straws to open up/oxygenate the wine! It works beautifully, but you kind of lose points on sophistication!

I love Decanter magazine, but I would say this:

It is not a “myth”, it just isn’t true for every bottle, of every variety, of every age, of every situation. It also isn’t untrue for all of these…

Consider old nebbiolo, for example

“A number of sulfur compounds are present in wine in traces and have an impact on flavor because they’re very potent,” he said. “Some are unpleasant and some contribute to a wine’s complexity. You can certainly dispose of these in five minutes with a little oxygen and a small area of metal catalyst to speed the reactions up, and change your impression of the wine.”

But Mr. Waterhouse maintained that no brief treatment could convert the tannins to less astringent, softer forms, not even an hour in a decanter.

“You can saturate a wine with oxygen by sloshing it into a decanter, but then the oxygen just sits there,” he said. “It reacts very slowly. To change the tannins perceptibly in an hour, you would have to hit the wine with pure oxygen, high pressure and temperature, and powdered iron with a huge catalytic surface area.”

Exactly. 5 minutes in a glass is all a wine needs to ‘breathe’.

Now that…is freaking awesome!

You don’t happen to have any old home movies kicking around that you can share, do you Drew??

Ed, I personally don’t think the breathing “myth” is busted at all, but it is probably overblown in terms of wines needing long decanting times.

As for bottles standing up, I put wines in my locker according to how I can get the boxes to fit most efficiently. Some end up on their sides, some standing. If I could only choose one or the other, I’d probably choose standing for long term storage. I’m with you, I’ve had too many soaked, deteriorating corks, but none from standing bottles that had a problem.

There was a Somm who worked at Niebaum Coppola Winery who developed a ‘wine straw’ to be used by wine professionals to assess wines. I still have a few of his first batch - it never caught on.

What I can say is that it actually does a terrific job of isolating aromas - and is a great way to discern faults in wines. I’ll have to remember to bring one or two to the next wine gathering I’m part of.

Cheers.

I don’t really know whether there is a point in arguing with the results – which have been discussed here in the past on at least a few occasions. But it’s hard to square with my own experience and that of just about everyone I know. I almost always prefer young wines after decanting. I drink a lot of older Nebbiolo, and it is almost universally the case that I prefer the wines several hours after decanting. In fact, they are often completely uninteresting immediately after opening, thin, and dominated by acid. While Bordeaux acts a bit differently – it’s often much more accessible than Nebbiolo upon opening – I’ve enjoyed enough bottles over several hours where the last glass was the best to make we wonder what the hell happened in the Decanter tasting.

Also, someone’s qualifications as an “esteemed judge” don’t seem at all relevant on this question. That said, maybe the wines in the 1997 Decanter tasting really did taste better immediately after opening. Interesting, if true. But it’s hard to see what the useful takeaway is, other than that wine is highly variable, and unfortunately it’s impossible to create universal rules that maximize enjoyment.

I only decant for sediment anymore.

If you decant a wine and ignore it for 2 hours you miss a lot of great information.

I’m curious about the claim of the inability of oxygen to meaningfully interact with tannins in short periods of time/typical circumstances. One of my most common experiences with young wine is that I find them powerful, fruity, and drinkable right after opening, but after (an hour, two, high degree of variation) the tannins become much more noticeable and the wine much less enjoyable. What causes this?

Alan, I was kidding about the breathing myth being busted. Interesting about your storage.