After being trapped in a bottle for years, wine needs a chance to breathe. This allows the wine to oxidize which can soften the flavors and release the aromas in the wine. Twenty-five to thirty minutes is usually all you need to accomplish this, but in the case of some tannic or younger red wines, you may need to let them breathe for a few hours.
Just opening the bottle and letting it stand is not the best way to let the wine breathe since it only exposes a little part of the wine to air. A great way to let your wine breathe is to pour it into a decanter. A decanter is a large bottomed glass bottle that exposes a larger portion of the wine to air. If you don't have a decanter, you can pour the wine into a large wine glass and swirl it for a few minutes.
However, not all wines are the same so they don't require the same time to breathe. Here are some tips to remember when aerating wine:
• Vintage red wines should only be aerated for 10-15 minutes to ensure their flavors don't get overpowered by over-oxidation.
• Young red wines should be allowed about an hour to breathe in order to soften the flavors.
• Most white wines don't have tannins so they don't need to be aerated.
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