# Letting wine "breathe"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/171040>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 25, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/171040 "2003-04-25T04:06:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/171040/21 "2003-04-26T16:08:47Z")

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No. White wines don’t have the tannins, so breathing doesn’t make a difference.

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/171040/22 "2003-04-26T18:07:09Z")

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If you have an old, tired wine the last thing you might want to do is let it breathe.

If you have a great big very young red that you’re going to drink in a hurry you might consider decanting so the wine will soften more quickly.

In any case wine is subjective. Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher agree that the best time to bring out a decanter is when the person who gave it to you is coming over.

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**Author:** ![Swirdle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Swirdle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swirdle)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/171040/23 "2003-04-27T11:44:03Z")

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You mean to say that he didn’t take the temperature of the wine ???

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