# Letting wine "breathe"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 20, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628 "2008-08-20T01:48:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628/21 "2008-08-20T18:43:10Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Great Dave]  
One trick to try with reds- take a sip, hold it on the front of your tongue, and pull air thru it (kinda like sipping hot soup off a spoon). You can taste the wine as it changes due to aeration!  
[/QUOTE]

I don’t believe that is aeration. You are getting the aroma of the wine, something that greatly enhances the taste. But that doesn’t directly aerate the wine; there’s not enough time for that to happen on your palate.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628/22 "2008-08-20T19:45:21Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Telemark]  
I don’t believe that is aeration. You are getting the aroma of the wine, something that greatly enhances the taste. But that doesn’t directly aerate the wine; there’s not enough time for that to happen on your palate.  
[/QUOTE]

It also spreads the wine around all yer tastebuds, giving a wider taste experience.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628/23 "2008-08-20T20:22:03Z")

</div>

Perhaps I didn’t explain thoroughly.

Take a sip, and hold it on your tongue. Hold for oh, say 20-60 seconds.

Do it again, but this time, during those 20-60 seconds, draw air through the wine (as if to imitate a [del]bong[/del]hookah).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628/24 "2008-08-21T02:53:04Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Great Dave]  
Perhaps I didn’t explain thoroughly.

Take a sip, and hold it on your tongue. Hold for oh, say 20-60 seconds.  
[/QUOTE]

I’ve rarely seen anyone hold wine on the palate as long as 60 seconds. It’s usually done for 10-15 seconds to get the aroma and taste.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628/25 "2008-08-21T03:19:22Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=John Mace]  
Absolutely makes a difference with some reds. The best thing to do is to decant it, but what I often do is pour it into the glass from as high above the glass as I can, making sure to create a lot of bubbles. That speeds up the breathing process.  
[/QUOTE]

You might want to try this gizmo: [http://www.vinturi.com/home.html](http://www.vinturi.com/home.html)

I’m generally a little sceptical of gimmicky devices, but a friend got one as a gift and I was surprised to find that it really did seem to make a difference.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letting-wine-breathe/460628.md?page=1)