How to check if the slow oxygenation method is "the" best method

For 40 years, I have been using the slow oxygenation method, with spectacular results. The method is simple: we open a bottle 4 to 5 hours before the meal, we wipe well the neck with our fingers because sometimes old corks have greased the neck, and we leave the wine in a quiet room temperate atmosphere, or in the door of a refrigerator for dry white wines.

Having opened more than 5,000 bottles over 35 years and having achieved spectacular results with wines that resurrect, I thought it was enough that I testify to be believed. However, it is not the case. Skepticism is very widespread especially with this misconception that a wine, as soon as it is open, will inevitably fade very quickly. On the contrary, the slow oxygenation method not only prevents the wine from fading, but also reinforces the wine, which has a long life in the glass which is greatly increased.

If I have not been able to convince, it’s my fault, and I only have to blame myself.

Also, as I hope that this method is finally recognized I launch a great experience open to all wine lovers, based on a single principle: a wine lover who has smelt the wine at the opening will judge the evolution of the fragrance of wine 4 to 5 hours later. It seems to me that everyone must be able to do it.
I therefore ask all amateurs to build a database based on odor analysis at 4 or 5 hour intervals.

The first smell of wine at the opening will be noted as follows:
A - definitely dead wine
B - very probably dead wine
C - wine that smells very bad
D - wine that smells bad
E - wine with uncertain smell
F - wine with a neutral smell
G - pleasantly scented wine
H - wine with a very pleasant smell
I - majestic wine.

I recall the procedure: we open the bottle 4 to 5 hours before, we clean the neck with the fingers; we do not pour any glass because the fact of pouring a glass does not make the oxygenation as slow as it should be, we note on our Smartphone on a note dedicated to this exercise: the year of the wine - the year of consumption - the letter of smell at the opening.

The smell just before the service will be the one felt at the neck, before serving, in the room where the wine was felt at the opening.

The smell at the time of service will be noted as follows:
1 - definitely dead wine
2 - odor deteriorated strongly compared to that of the opening
3 - smell slightly worse than opening
4 - odor without change
5 - odor slightly improved
6 - odor in noticeable improvement
7 - smell in very strong improvement
8 - miracle!

For example, a 1978 wine with a pleasant odor that has improved significantly will be noted as follows:

1978 - 2018 - G - 6.

I will use this rating system for myself and if many amateurs send me their own findings every two months, we can see if the slow oxygenation method is really what I believe, which gave me so many miracles for 40 years.

I especially wish to receive the results of the wines of before 1984 (35 years and more) which for my study have more significance. Send your results by mail every two months and I hope to have a nice database. Thank you very much.

francois.audouze@wine-dinners.com

another method could be that you add your results on this discussion. I have asked on my blog the readers to do the same. We will see.

I have a dinner tonight. I will use the method

I have forgotten to say that

• the champagnes could be put out of this study
• the color of the wine should be given : R W L (red, white, liquorous)
• the name of the wine could be given.

in the example above, if the 1978 is a white, it would be 1978 - W - 2018 - G - 6.

Will participate. Quick question. Do you believe that the method works exclusively for mature wines (35 years plus) or would you recommend for all wines ?

François,

I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that your method, which I continue to call “Audouzeing”(!) has long been proven to be the best. I rarely decant nowadays as a result, apart from the occasional young wine, or simply because I forgot to open the bottle early enough.

Francois,

After you open the wines you keep them at cellar temperature standing up, I assume?

This was my question too. Do you mean this approach for old wines, or all wines, or perhaps some different category of wines?

Thanks, Francois.

I expect, for very young wines, both slow ox and decanting trades bright young fruit for some mellowness. That has been my experience and, when I am at our place in Provence, per force, young wine is almost all I drink, so I have some experience too. Whether one prefers oxygenation really depends on one’s taste and on the wine. It’s also the case that both oxygenation and decanting can cause a young wine in the first year of its life to become more tannic and dumb.

My experience with 15 and 20 year old wines–not nearly the same age as those François deals with and not nearly the same number, is that his method does work if the wine is not flawed. Air may revive seemingly dead wines, but any corked or bacterial smells just blossom with it.

Given the experience of some people here, I would call this not even my two cents but more like my ha’penny.

I also thought there was more to this: if upon opening, the smell is pleasant, a neutral cork was placed back in the bottle? Only improper aromas required slow ox?

Deleted on account of reader (me!) error.

My apologies to Mr. Audoze for misreading and posting based on my error.

Reread: he specifically says that the second smelling is done from the bottle, just before service. I agree that a fuller test would be to have two bottles of the same wine so that one could pour some into a glass and let both breathe to compare noses in each. And one could, of course, find problems with almost any test. But if all the people at his dinners and people on this board hand in reports, the number of reports, while hardly being a controlled experiment, might present statistical regularities. If, on performing this method with 50 year old wines, one of the skeptics changed his mind, that would be even more persuasive. But I’m sure there are plenty of agnostics to give it a try.

My miss. Thanks for pointing that out, Jonathan. I will delete my post.

This is useful, because it finally outlines exactly François’s method. Unfortunately, it gives me even less belief that the method could be doing anything at all to the wine, as well as a fair amount of skepticism of his evaluation of the condition of a wine, just smelling the cork or the opening of the bottle.

I really, honestly, hate doing this, but I continue to see advice to “slow-ox” wines over and over and over and over again, so here’s a link to my thread of a year ago where I demonstrate that this method simply cannot do anything to a wine, particularly over a time course of just a few hours: Putting a stake in the heart of "slow ox" - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

I don’t doubt there is accumulated “crud” in the head space of an just opened bottle, including residual aromas of old cork, etc. So Francois can probably smell that crud just after opening. But I don’t believe that evidence tells us much about the wine in the bottle itself. And sure, the air in the top of a now open bottle is going to clean up as fresh air enters and whatever was in there escapes - but that doesn’t change the wine inside the bottle in the least. I don’t believe that coming back to it a few hours later and smelling something different is a predictor of what the wine will actually taste like once in the glass.

To re-state my position: just pulling the cork has no effect on the wine in the bottle, outside of perhaps the top cm. And, ultimately, the act of later pouring the wine into a glass has so much more impact on the wine that even if slow-ox actually did do something, it would be totally swamped by the act of pouring.

As I said multiple times in my thread, there is zero harm in François’s method, so no reason not to do it; but I am very confident it does nothing to the wine that could be noticed after being served.

I typically do that and I assume Francois would as well. That is my preferred method for wines older than 25 years.

The original post says they are placed at room temperature (or, for white wines, in the door of the fridge).

Francios,

You have changed your own rules! When you originally introduced Methode Audouze, you specifically stated that a tiny amount of wine should be poured from the bottle for two reasons. First, to increase the amount of surface area of wine that gets exposed to oxygen, and second, to allow for a preliminary assessment of the wine itself, from glass. You went on to say that if, as the case is with many old wines, the glass sample smells perfectly fine, then your Methode requires the placing of a neutral cork on the bottle in order to diminish the affect of oxygen on the wine, which by initial appearance needs none.

So why the change?

I would also point out that in your early proselytizing of Methode Audouze you pointedly stated that the process was only intended for wines in their geriatric years, and should in no way be confused with processes needed for young wines, middle-aged wines, or wines at their peak of evolution. It is, after all, a resuscitation process. But now, here you are seeking proof pudding for a process you invented by employing the service of participants who are almost uniformly unqualified for the task? Scant few enthusiasts on this board even own wines that meet the base qualification; age. So in service of your pursuit you have altered the core tenets of the method you seek to validate? This defies logic. Please explain yourself.

I read the stories you write about the dinners you make with your family, friends, and ancient and sometimes mysterious wines with great joy and inspiration, and I thank you for them. Why are you trying to validate the celebrity status you already enjoy?

Msgr. Adouze, I have enjoyed reading about your method, as well as your writings on the many old venerable wines that you have had the pleasure of drinking.

I know that you mentioned leaving Champagne wines out of this study…but what do you suggest about older Champagne wines?

I have several bottles of René Collard Champagnes from the 1990’s. that I recently acquired. Sadly the bottles spent a year in less than ideal conditions (in the first floor of a house in California-room temperature)…before coming to me. The cork practically slid out of the first bottle openned. Sherry notes on the nose and the palate. With vigerous swilring in the glass, some of the sherry blew and the wine was OK. Day 2 the bottle was pretty much gone.

In the past, I have had other bottles of Collard that did much better with time after being opened. Usually by day two, the wine was much better than day one…all sherry notes having blown off and the wine had come back to life.

I fear with these recently acquired bottles that they may not respond as well, since their corks appeared to be very dried out and shriviled.

Can you pleasre advise? Or else point me to other threads where you have described dealing with older champagnes. I realize 1990’s era wine are babies compared to the wines that you normally drink…but alas these poor bottles have prematurely aged due to poor storate, I fear.

Have we promoted him to bishop now?

I had to organize and realize a great dinner whose report is published now so I had no time to answer all questions. I will try to do it now.
Michael,
Red wines and liquorous go in the cellar standing and white wines with champagnes (not immediately opened) go to the door of a fridge.
Concerning the young wines, there are two questions : is the Audouze method good for young wines and the second question is : is it worth making the test that I propose also for young wines?prfer
More and more, for young wines, I prefer no slow-ox or no decanting, I like to witness the expansion of the wine in the glass. But if you want a wine which is immediately giving the best, the slow-ox is better than decanting. The wine will be softer.
Concerning the interest of making the test, it would be too much work for a not very significant result. Let us take the wines before 1984.

Mark,
I put a neutral cork when the smell is so fantastic that I do not see how it would improve. This is rare.
Joseph,
I described the method as : you smell from the bottle at the two moments. And I trust in the ability of wine lovers to be able to notice a difference if there is a significant difference. So in this method I do not introduce any external factor.
Alan,
I will say with all respect due to you that you are wrong. By a tiny surface, it is not oxygen which goes down, it is bad molecules which go up. I have written in my book published in 2004 that I am convinced that 50% of wines which were thrown away by people who believed that they were dead, were great wines. I do not say drinkable wines, I say great wines.
I have seen so many miracles that I say that you are wrong.

I have no dog in this hunt, but the back and forth is very entertaining. Thanks to all!