One, why do wine connoisseurs let their wine “breathe” first? Actually, this reminds me of an interesting anecdote. Actor Robert Wagner was hosting Saturday Night Live, in 1989. (It seems he was estranged from his friend Christopher Walken. So he hosted, much as Walken often did, to get on Walken’s good side, I guess.) Anyways, in one skit, he is this bon vivant, with the a connoisseur’s tastes, but a Homer Simpson-like appetite to eat. (He joked, he only could eat on “one speed” LOL.) But when he got to the wine, he instructed the waiter to not let it breathe too much. What on earth does that mean? What happens when you let wine breathe too long? I, at least, have always wondered, and honestly don’t know.
And this second question may be a little more subjective, and a little more rhetorical, when I ask it. But does every “good” wine have to come with a cork? Because I have to tell you, I have had wines I just loved. And they have screw caps on them! Am I wrong, or even alone, when I think this? Please set me straight, if necessary.
Wine experts, please chime in too. (And please keep your Robert Wagner posts to a minimum:). This is a wine question.)
If I remember correctly, the theory is that younger red wines need exposure to air to “open up” and improve their flavour.
Old wines are more delicate and should not be exposed to too much air before drinking (the decanting there is done to get rid of possible sediment).
So maybe he was asking for an older wine or simply wanted it faster?
Regarding the cork issue, there are many fantastic wines out there with a screw cap nowadays and I think the difference is that wines that are meant to age, age better with a cork, but most wines (90% or so) are intended to be drunk within a year.
Screw caps are just better, overall, IMO. Better for the consumer, better for the wine.
Corkists are just hidebound traditionalists. Hell, even champagne is made using a screw-cap, the distinctive cork is only for the secondary ferment (& the show of it).
I recently had three wine experts in Napa and Sonoma admit that screw-top bottles are superior to corked bottles, in terms of maintaining wine and reducing spoilage, but consumers turn their noses up at screw tops. One explained that removing the cork is part of the “romance” of drinking wine for wine lovers, and part of the beloved “ritual”, but not better in any way. There are some winemakers who are boldly bucking the system by offering good wine with screw tops.
Wines heavy in tanning (e.g., cabernets) can benefit from exposure to air. The oxygen combines chemically to make it taste less harsh. I’ve see this happen. Leaving a bottle open is not the best way to do it – too little surface area. It’s more effective to decant – pour it into another container. The pouring mixes it with air and the flavor is improved.
Tradition and snobbery. Wines were originally corked because there was no other way to seal the bottle. When screw tops came along, the established wineries weren’t interested in changing. The screw top was used, however, by cheap wines and soon became associated with them. That made it even harder for top wineries to switch – it made people think they were producing cheap wine. There’s some movement toward this for premium wines (cork supplies is dwindling, and it takes something like 40 years for a cork tree to be able to be harvesed), and many good arguments for it, but tradition still rules.
Screw caps are better in nearly all ways over natural cork. Synthetic corks are also pretty popular. The screw caps are basically foolproof, meaning you get no spoilage from bad corks. Most wines consumed are meant to be opened in just a few years after being bottled so there’s no benefits of the breathing allowed by natural cork. Even there, however, the proper screw capsules can do the exact same thing.
The only real thing you miss with screw tops is the ritual of popping the cork. This will keep some winemakers from using screw tops, but eventually most will go that way.
Most red wines are made to be consumed soon after bottling. They don’t really need to breathe. Wines that are laid up and improve in the bottle definitely benefit by being exposed to oxygen, but not in a bottle. That doesn’t provide enough surface area to do much good, you should use a proper decanter.
Just the opposite: red wines (cabernets especially) are usually improved by aging (other than a few exceptions like Beaujolais nouveau). White wines don’t need to be aged.
This is a very misleading comment. The vast majority of wines in the world are ready for consumption when they are sold. Any aging is done by the producer, not by the consumer. Maybe 5% of the wine sold benefits from cellaring by the purchaser. And there are several whites (Sauternes, mostly) that really need to age in the bottle.
Screw caps are superior to cork in almost every way. Minor correction to **Mr. Dibble’s **post - champagne is bottled with a crown cap, not a screw cap. This cap is discarded and the bottle is corked as the final step in champagne production.
Exactly. While wine can be made that benefits from aging most wine isn’t made that way. My BIL is a winemaker and he usually breaks it down as follows:
2% of wine should be consumed 5-10 years after bottling
8% of wine should be consumed 0-5 years after bottling
80% of wine should be consumed immediately upon getting home from the store
10% of wine should be consumed on the way home from the store
IANA wine guy. An actual wine guy told me that letting the wine breathe releases the aroma of the wine into the air enhancing the way it tastes. That’s the reason for the wide goblets also, it puts the scent of the wine up your nose while you taste it, and there are wine pouring thing-a-ma-jigs that tilt the bottle so the neck is over a candle which adds a little heat for the same purpose. There may be other reasons, a little oxidization helping the flavor maybe, but certainly having the aroma mix with the taste will have an effect with any food.
Not for the same purpose at all! Those wine cradles are for decanting vintage ports off their sediments, not for (shudder!) heating up wine as you pour it.
BTW, anybody who opens a bottle of wine and expects it to breathe while still in the bottle is wasting their time. There is minimal surface area in the bottle. The wine has to be pour to get oxygenated.
In my experience, both young and older reds can benefit from decanting. It gives the aromas a chance to open up. Sometimes a younger red tastes better the next day- if there’s any left.
Old caterer’s trick- open a bottle, pour a glass, re-cork the bottle and give it a shake. It aerates the wine. Not recommended for an older wine with sediment in it!
I drink quite a bit of wine, mainly Australian Shiraz’s, I have noticed over the past few years the majority of wines I’ve been buying have screw-caps. These wines vary anywhere from $10CAD - $35CAD in price.
One of my goto’s (“19 Crimes”) still uses a cork, I believe its synthetic.
Where I live, just a couple hours from the Okanagan region of BC. There are probably 100+ wineries and very few still use corks.
I don’t mind screw-caps, I don’t trust them to seal the bottle after opening them (I always have metal screw-caps leak). So I usually either drink the whole bottle (not much of a hardship) or use my wine-sealer cork pump thingy.
Serious answer: We ate that moose with good old 'Merkin macro-brew. But if I was serving wine it would be something simple and cheap like Gallo Hearty Burgundy. The flavors of the grill and BBQ sauce would over-power any wine you can afford, and would mute the flavors of any powerhouse that could stand up to the meat.
