Give wine a breather

By GabeSaglie

I’ve written before about my fascination with larger-than-normal bottles of wine. They are, to me, a party waiting to happen. And that’s why I took a magnum to dinner the other night.

As I walked in with the oversized, autographed bottle of Kahn Winery’s 1999 Syrah, people noticed. The 1.5-liter glass vessel made a beautiful thud as I placed it at the center of the table. And it impressed our waitress, as she approached it that much more cautiously, corkscrew in hand. And she seemed that much more proud of her clean cork extraction, if for no other reason because it was bigger than most.

“Should I let it breathe before I pour?” she asked.

Eyes turned toward me, as if I’d give an intelligent answer.

“Sure,” I said.

And as our waitress walked away, I realized my answer hadn’t been that intelligent at all.

No doubt about it, aeration can be key to your wine enjoyment. Friends of mine who prefer the stuff of hops over the drink wrought from grapes sometimes laugh as they stare at me, glass of red in hand, swirling away in pride-worthy synchronicity for several seconds before I sip. The motion, I’ve told them, is an infusion of air into the wine, which helps release hidden smells and flavors. Even the most tucked away aromas will often hover to the surface through the simple act of enveloping air into the wine. And that, in turn, heightens your enjoyment of the wine.

But what about the effects of aeration on a bottle of wine you allow to sit for a few moments before pouring? Take our tabletop magnum. The mouth of the bottle is not all that big. The size of a nickel, perhaps. And think of the volume of wine inside. Two regular-sized bottles worth. Admittedly, a few minutes of air exposure will make no difference to the wine within.

So as the waitress walked away, and as my fellow diners got back to conversation to pass the time before the wine would be aerated enough to be poured, I picked up the bottle and began to distribute it.

“There’s no point is letting it breathe,” I said.

Had time (and patience) been on our side, it would have been different. Wine in a bottle or in a glass can benefit from air exposure for an extended period of wine. Even over the course of a long, relaxed dinner, the astute eater will notice the wine in their glass evolve throughout the evening.

I learned this concept on my first visit to my friend Bob Dickey’s house. When he offered me a glass of wine, I noticed he had several bottles open on the kitchen counter. Four or five bottles.

“We’ll often open a few bottles with dinner,” he told me, “and have them again for lunch or dinner the next day.” And that next day, the wines will taste different, if not better.

If you have a few hours, or 24 for that matter, wines worth aging will experience a certain amount of development through air exposure. (I equate age-ability with higher tannins, which are a natural preservative in wines like cabernets and merlots; I’ve had lighter reds exposed to air even for 24 hours actually turn bad).

With those big reds especially, you’ll notice a release enticing aromas you didn’t the night before. You’ll taste flavors that once hid from the palate. And you’ll find yourself describing the wine as less “tight” or more “open.” Breathing has occurred. And the wine experience has been heightened.

Gabe’s radio show, “The Grapevine” airs from noon-1 p.m. Saturdays on KZBN AM1290. He can be contacted at gabe@thegrapevineshow.com.