How does your wine breathe?

Have you met someone who takes the cork out of the bottle, to let the wine breathe? Just taking the cork out is one of those urban myths generated during the 60’s and 70’s by wine drinkers who had heard that wine needed to breathe but really didn’t know what it meant.

Air cannot penetrate liquid, it has to be actively mixed. Therefore, taking the cork out allows the top 1ml of wine to breathe as this is the only part that is exposed to air.

To allow wine to breathe you need another vessel into which to pour the wine. You could use a bowl, but a decanter is much easier to pour and looks far more attractive.

Decanters were first created for the wealthy as wine was put into ugly glass jars or clay pots by the wine makers of the time. The wine bottle as we know it is a comparatively new design. In the best homes which were lucky enough to drink wine, the ugly flask was not deemed attractive enough for the table. Hence glass blowers were commissioned to make attractive wine serving vessels, into which the wine was decanted.

The other reason for removing the wine from its original container is because wine builds up sediment over time. Today, different wines create varying quantities of sediment depending on how the wine is made and for how long it is stored. Sediment will not harm you but is makes the wine look dirty and you taste it in the mouth.

Allowing wine to breathe means getting oxygen into the wine, allowing the wine molecules to expand, the tannin to oxidize and the aroma to develop. Very old wine should not be allowed to breathe for long at all as the molecules are fragile. Young wine will benefit from 60 – 90 minutes breathing. To aerate a wine well, vigorously pour the wine through a filtered funnel, splashing or breaking up the wine as it pours into a decanter. The idea is to coat every molecule with air.

The shape of a decanter makes no difference to the wine. It is the very act of pouring that makes all the difference. Buy a decanter on the basis of its aesthetic, ease of storage, how easy it is for you to pour and clean. Once the wine has settled in the decanter, only the surface of the wine will be exposed to the air, which is a very small amount of wine indeed.

I find the Riedel Sommeliers Decanter the easiest to pour, store, clean and the spiral around the neck catches the drips!

You’ve got the glass, but do you have the wine?

Sweet wine from New Zealand is banned under EU law.

The problem for both New Zealand and Canadian sweet wine producers centers around the presumed alcoholic strength of their wines says John Waugh, Senior Trade Commissioner for the New Zealand Trade Development Board. "Whilst the European Community allows for the import into the EC of table wines with an actual alcoholic strength by volume of up to 15 percent, Community rules (specifically Article 70/1/b) of Regulation EEC 822/87, provide that wine cannot be marketed or sold as wine within the EU if its total alcoholic strength--the sum of actual and potential strength (if the residual sugar were fermented)--exceeds 15 percent," explains Waugh.

He continues. "New Zealand sweet wines contain naturally high levels of residual sugar, reflecting their quality and have high potential alcohol strength accordingly," he says. "Sweet wine production in New Zealand is based on the natural infection of grapes with the fungus Botrytis cinerea thanks to the climatic conditions in the country."

However, there are anomalies within the EU regulations, Waugh points out. "The anomaly between a trade access binding for actual alcoholic strength means that New Zealand sweet wines are allowed into the Community but then cannot be offered for sale to the consumer."

Some of the finest sweet wines come from the new world and its such a shame that they are not available in the UK, particularly for use in the Riedel Sommeliers Sauternes glass, the finest sweet wine glass in the world.

Which came first? The bottle or the glass?

Fuelled by the increasing attention to the problem of global warming, wine producers are turning to alternative packaging in an effort to attract the consumer. In recent weeks you may have read about plastic bottles of wine and pouches on the shelves of the supermarket and even Tetra Pak cartons of wine going on sale in Belgium.

We should all be concerned about the impact of waste and carbon footprints on the planet, but when ones mind strays from the larger picture onto the more immediate and imminent next glass of wine, what will the effect of the packaging be on the enjoyment of the wine? Just when you thought you had covered every base to enjoy a perfect glass, there are a whole new set of criteria to consider.

The first gut reaction to screwcaps was one of negativity as the romanticism of pulling the cork disappeared. Then logic dictated that there would be far less TCA tainted wine, but concerns were expressed about how fine wine would fair over a long period in the cellar? Cork is still deemed preferential for ageing wine, whereas screwcaps are favored for wine that benefits from a spring in its step.

So not only is it important to mature the wine to perfection, serve it at the right temperature, drink it from the appropriately shaped glass, match it with the ideal food partner and know your French from your American oak, one now has to decide on whether the wine from a pouch, carton or box will cast a shadow over your Premier Cru.

Introducing Wine Lifestyle Blog

Wine is more than just the contents of a bottle. There are many wine writers who will tell you where a wine is made, who made it, how they made it, what it tastes like and what they think of it. Opinions about wine are quite subjective because everyones taste and expectations are different. Different palates enjoy different things.
To get the most out of any bottle you are planning to drink, the way it has been stored, the temperature at which it is served and the glass you drink it from will make a huge difference. The people you drink it with may make the biggest difference.
This blog will discuss all these factors and many more.