Why let wine breathe?
Red wines, especially the vintage ones, have been sealed in the bottle for quite a number of years. The wine would have a considerable amount of tannins which can come from the grape skin as the grapes are being processed into wine. The idea of letting the red wine breathe is too soften up the tannins in the wine. As the air comes into contact with the wine, it allows the tannins to soften up, making the wine smoother. Not only that, letting red wine breathe can allow the wine aromas to open up, helping improve the overall flavor characteristics of the wine. Letting the wine breathe can also help give it some time to come to its proper serving temperature. How to let wine breathe Some people may think of letting the red wine breathe as letting it stand for less than an hour or so. This might not provide the actual purpose of trying to aerate the wine since only a small surface area of the bottled wine is in contact with the air. The proper way to let red wine breathe is by using a deca
