Breathing In, Breathing Out--Wine

Allowing a wine to “breathe” means you expose the wine to the air. This helps start the exchange of air molecules with wine molecules; which has an effect on the wine's flavor and makes the wine easier to smell.

Placing wine in a decanter (“decanting”) removes sediment from a wine and again, allows the wine to breathe. Decanting is for older, red wines. Decanters are designed to expose large amounts of wine to the air; which helps these older wines obtain a full aroma again, after years of being stuck in a bottle. Young and white wines don’t usually need to be placed in a decanter.

Just removing a cork out of a bottle doesn’t do much. The small amount of air seeping into the bottle causes no real change in the wine even after a few hours. To create a positive effect on the wine, use a large surface area for the wine and air to react—which is where decanters come in to play.