POLL: What does the term "slow-ox" mean to you?

WINE TALK
1

What does the term “slow-ox” mean to you?

  • Opening the bottle and letting it sit without pouring out any wine
  • Pouring out a glass or so (increasing the surface area) and letting the remainder of the wine oxygenate as if it were in a carafe
  • Something else (explain)
  • This term does not mean anything to me

0 voters

Out of the following options which do you think best describes what you would consider slow oxygenation of wine?

2

“My ex-wife” should be an option – seriously! [highfive.gif]

3

Bovine special-ed?

4

I voted “Something else (explain)” because in my mind the first 2 choices both qualify. The point is that the bottle is opened in advance of drinking and not decanted into another vessel.

Berry - IMO you should modify the poll to include a “both 1 & 2” option.

5

Although I agree, I voted 1st option. If I pour out any wine, it is much less than a glass, only to expand the surface a little.

6

Maybe Berry is trying to force us to choose, so I chose #2. It makes more sense, from my experience, to up the surface area exposure somewhat (though not a whole glass). #1 is what I would call ultra-slow-ox.

7

Interesting. Generally I guess I’m more prone to #2, although less than a glass, and not so much to enlarge surface area, but to taste the wine to see if it needs any ox at all. But, to my mind, #1 still qualifies.

If you ask a civilian what it means to let a wine breathe, I bet most will say pull the cork and then let the bottle sit. Of course they’re pulling it off the top of their fridge, so whatever…

8

I use both methods depending on the age of the wine and what previous experience with a particular wine tells me. Older wines, I’m much more likely to use #1. I don’t call it slow ox, I say, “popped, breathed in bottle…” Best way to speed up oxygenation is to pour two or three glasses, swirl a few times and let them sit awhile. I do that with very young wine.

9

I use slow-ox for mainly mature/old bottles of wine (30+ years), so I guess that normally I’d like to ‘ultra-slow-ox’ them, as it’s named above. Normally I refer to this only as ‘slow-ox’.

10

I voted 1, but I do pour out the tiniest amount (mayb .75 oz) at times if I can’t quite tell by the nose out of the bottle.

11

I voted #2, but it is more like 1/2 glass.

12

I chose “something else” because I only pour out 20-50ml, much less than a glass.

13

+1 I bring it down right below the neck so less than a glass

14

I didn’t word that very well. Sometimes I pour alot less than a glass. Depends on the wine and how long I have until I want to drink it.

15

I always, decant, wash the bottle and pour back in, and drink later in the day (generally 8 hours later) I only leave the wine in the decanter for maybe a minute or two.
On a traditional slow’ o do you decant before you serve?

16

Jason, do you cork the bottle after you pour the wine back in?

17

In my mind that’s double-decant not slow-ox.

18

I’d be interested to hear informed scientific opinion on slow oxygenation. My sense is that pulling a cork and letting it sit might serve to let bottle stink dissipate but in terms of actual oxygenation there’s not enough surface area to make a difference over a matter of hours. I’d imagine that decanting and returning to the bottle exposes the wine to a lot more air, not just during the process, but adding freshly dissolved.

19

Sorry…Berry…very poorly worded poll, though the subject is interesting to me…to a very limited degree.

The question seems to be more about what people prefer to do or do, rather than how they define the term “slow ox”.

What is your term for pulling the cork? No ox? ox pull? For me, it’s “no ox”.

20

This. The entire idea of slow oxing is NOT to do one thing all of the time but rather gently expose the wine to oxygen such that it a) helps wake the wine up and b) doesn’t cause it to fall apart. For some very old wines that might be nothing more than removing the cork. For others it might be pouring a little out to slightly increase the surface. For some it might be to pour out enough to get the fill below the shoulder and expose more air.

As for the naysayers who think it does nothing… google ‘brownian motion’.


Again, I agree with Larry. Decanting, double decanting, pop and pour and slow oxing are all different methods of when to expose the wine to air and how much. They have different purposes and aren’t interchangeable. And, of course, it’s an art to know when to use one and an imprecise art at that.