Opening wine to let it "breathe"

[MChang]

@John_Morris

@alan_weinberg

Look up Audouze. He is a huge proponent but then he believes TCA disappears if a somm fans the bottle.

And he only favored pulling the cork when dealing with very old wines that might have some funk that conceivably would blow off by just pulling the cork. These were wines that were too old to decant ahead.

The notion of “Audouzing” a young, or even 10-year-old, wine was silly and pointless, and nothing he would have advocated.

Alan Rath posted definitive data showing that virtually no oxygen penetrates the surface of a still liquid. The act of decanting – even gently pouring wine into a decanter – does introduce some oxygen, but just sitting in a decanter does not, so pulling a cork is not “slow-oxing” a wine. At best, it allows a little evaporation of some volatile funk.

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work.

[Joseph_Grassa]

Personally I have never been convinced over any of the scientific documentation on this. I think there are too many assumptions made. Perhaps it is using the words “breathe” "“aerate” “slo-ox” that mislead us.

If I recall correctly, you have advocated that young wines can often improve on day 2 or day 3. If so, that is subject to the wine being opened, so what is different about that then a slow ox? 6 hours at room temperature or some greater time period in the fridge could have similar effects, whether it is related to oxygen or not no?

[MChang]

@Joseph_Grassa

Personally I have never been convinced over any of the scientific documentation on this. I think there are too many assumptions made. Perhaps it is using the words “breathe” "“aerate” “slo-ox” that mislead us.

If I recall correctly, you have advocated that young wines can often improve on day 2 or day 3. If so, that is subject to the wine being opened, so what is different about that then a slow ox? 6 hours at room temperature or some greater time period in the fridge could have similar effects, whether it is related to oxygen or not no?

I don’t think it has to do with temp; most of the time I’ll open bottles and leave them in the cellar.

[Joseph_Grassa]

I do the same, but the process seems expedited if it is room temperature to me.

[John_Morris]

@MChang

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work

I don’t think there’s widespread support for that view here.

[John_Morris]

Here’s Alan’s original thread:

Putting a stake in the heart of “slow ox”

[MChang]

@John_Morris

@MChang

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work

I don’t think there’s widespread support for that view here.

For slow oxing? Almost every single wine event I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot) have been opened 2-6 hours before serving.

[John_Morris]

Here’s Alan’s original 2017 thread:

Putting a stake in the heart of “slow ox”

[John_Morris]

@MChang

@John_Morris

@MChang

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work

I don’t think there’s widespread support for that view here.

For slow oxing? Almost every single wine event I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot) have been opened 2-6 hours before serving.

Just pulling corks and letting wines sit? For wines less than 20 years old?

If you’ve read the posts here, you’ll see that you are in the minority in this view. Many people hold delusions dear.

[LasseK]

I do the same as Tom.

I pour a small glass to free some surface, and to check the wines current state. If it feels open and good to go I re-cork it. If not then I let it breath in the bottle.

I had much more success with this than decanting (not that a proper decant is not required in some cases)

[MChang]

@John_Morris

@MChang

@John_Morris

@MChang

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work

I don’t think there’s widespread support for that view here.

For slow oxing? Almost every single wine event I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot) have been opened 2-6 hours before serving.

Just pulling corks and letting wines sit? For wines less than 20 years old?

If you’ve read the posts here, you’ll see that you are in the minority in this view. Many people hold delusions dear.

Idk i think you’d recognize most of the names at the events. Pretty good cross section of the top burg drinkers on here.

[Terry_H_a_r_r_i_s]

For those of you who don’t decant, can you recommend a good floss?

[R_Frankel]

I do decant, usually double decant. How long before drinking depends a lot on the wine in question. I never slow ox though.

[MChang]

I think there are a lot of factors at play that could affect things.

1. the wine isn’t completely still, it was agitated but opening
   and will take awhile to become still; that combined with air time would expose more wine than one would think.

This would be easy to test with a relatively clear bottle and food coloring; you’d just assume there would be more diffusion than that.

2. the improvement in the wine may be not at all related to oxygen.

[K_John_Joseph]

@MChang

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work.

Placebos can be exceptionally effective when one expects a beneficial result.

[MChang]

@K_John_Joseph

@MChang

And yet it seems to work. I don’t really care what the scientific basis of it working is, just that it does work.

Placebos can be exceptionally effective when one expects a beneficial result.

As I mentioned above I’ve done this experiment blind with one bottle opened earlier and kept at cellar temp and one popped immediately before service and almost everyone preferred the bottle with air time. It’s a very easy test to do.

[LasseK]

@R_Frankel

The science is pretty clear - merely opening the bottle does not have an effect on the wine.

I think I might be misunderstanding this? But clearly opening a wine has an effect on it.

I mean, if I open a wine and let it just stand around for a few days it will most likely be shot or atleast very different to a bottle of the same wine that wasn’t opened?

[MChang]

@LasseK

@R_Frankel

The science is pretty clear - merely opening the bottle does not have an effect on the wine.

I think I might be misunderstanding this? But clearly opening a wine has an effect on it.

I mean, if I open a wine and let it just stand around for a few days it will most likely be shot or atleast very different to a bottle of the same wine that wasn’t opened?

This is all based on some “science” that was posted a few years ago on here to make the argument that opening bottles without decanting them doesn’t appreciably change the wine.

[LasseK]

Sounds like great “science”

[R_Frankel]

Read the threads linked earlier and let us know what you think.