Are you a frequent wine drinker and are confused about the part when you have to let it breathe?
If you are continually socializing in circles that have wine tasting events, if you prefer wines over alcohol in parties and if wine is your idea of chilling, you are definitely a wine lover.
And if you are a wine lover, you must have in most likelihood, come across the concept of aerating wines and its benefits.
If you remember it from an article you read or from a conversation you were a part of and are now wondering how to do it, here’s good news for you! This blog post will provide you with five easy ways in which you can aerate wine by yourself.
Sip away and read on…
Five Easy Ways to Aerate Wines
Aeration may be a big word for a leisure activity of drinking wine. But trust me, it’s simpler than you can imagine! This section of the article will give you the five easiest ways to aerate wines efficiently.
1. Swirling in Wine Glass
One of the most popularly practiced, unintentional and to some extent, effective way of aerating wines is probably something you already do.
When a long aged and caged wine is uncorked and finally poured into a hollow, broad-mouthed red wine glass, it’s like stretching its arms for the wine.
It eventually gets the well-deserved space and air to breathe. You would need the perfect wine glass to do this and here are our top picks.
While doing this, you have to keep in mind the age of the wine. If it is a younger red, it will take hours on a stretch for it to improve by breathing in the glass and other methods would be easier.
However, for an old, fragile, and mature wine, swirling in the glass is all the exposure it needs. Make sure you finish it soon, though, as just an hour’s exposure to air can turn it into vinegar!
2. Repetitive Pouring Between Two Pitchers
This process isn’t as effortless as swirling wines in a red wine glass but useful nonetheless. For this method, you will need two pitchers, preferably broad-mouthed and lightweight, for hassle-free pouring.
Uncork your wine and pour the required amount in one pitcher and then from a considerable height, only enough to avoid spilling, pour all the contents into another pitcher.
This will give your intense tannic wines great exposure, especially during the fall into the next pitcher as the speed of the fall will ensure more interaction with air.
You have to repeat the process several times for younger red wines.
This will reduce the breathing time from hours to just a few minutes. Try this for about 15 times and then taste your wine.
If the tannins are still intense, do it a few times more.
You can then pour this wine back in the bottle using a funnel, or directly into your wine glass to taste the fruits of all your efforts!
3. Blend Em’ Tannins
This is one of the easiest ways to soften the tannins in your wine, the main purpose of aerating it. The principle is, the higher the speed of wine, the faster it is moving and the greater the motion, the more it will interact with air and give the desired result.
All you have to do is pour your favorite wine into a blender.
If you don’t have a blender, a food processor with a blade attachment is also a good substitute. Like in the above-mentioned steps, you need to make sure your wine is younger and intense in tannins.
If you avoid this step and blend an old wine, your wine will quickly mature and taste like vinegar.
You wouldn’t want to waste something that precious and expensive, would you?
Switch the blender on and let your wine blend at high speed for 15 to 20 seconds. You can again try and test if that much aeration is enough for your taste and repeat this process. Blending will still give you the results within literally minutes, if not seconds.
If you see bubbles while blending, don’t worry. It’s just a part of the game that air plays with your wine. That’s all you need to do to get an improved version of your wine!
4. Using Decanters
One of the historically used methods to store, place, and serve wine has also been used for decades for aerating them.
A decanter is a glass or crystal vessel that is used to hold decantation liquids that may have sediments, for instance, wines.
Their volume is usually equivalent to one standard bottle of wine and is available in a number of shapes and forms that ensure maximum exposure to air.
Decanters are one of the best ways to let wines breathe, naturally oxidize and aerate. It is a method advocated by several wine experts, however, only for intensely tannic wines.
Decanting can be more harmful to more delicate wines like Chianti and Pinot noir.
All you have to do is set your wine bottle aside for about 24 hours so that any sediment settles down. Keeping in mind the age of your wine, pour young red wines into the decanter a few hours before consuming it.
Stop pouring the moment you see sediment near the neck of the bottle or notice the color of wine getting foggy. That’s it! Wait it out and have a great experience.
5. Aerate Using Aerators
Thanks to technology, you have an appliance that is made just for the purpose! Aerating wines is made much simpler and faster.
Aerators are handy instruments that you can attach to the mouth of your wine bottle, and you can have an improved version with enhanced flavors and taste while pouring! These appliances increase the velocity of wine while pouring and introduces the bulks of air rapidly.
This makes not only effective aeration of your wine possible but also easy and really fast!
Sit Back and Relax…
Now that you have reached the end of our blog, you are taking with you at least one trick, if not five, to aerate your wines and enjoy them in peace.
So go ahead, sit back and sip your favorite wines, with flavors and aroma like never before!