How to Let Wine Breathe

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Letting wine breathe makes for a more complex, delicate, and smooth drinking experience. Learn how to allow your wine to breathe so you can get the most out of your bottle.

Step 1: Open the bottle
Uncork the bottle and let it sit for a few hours. Although this isn't the most effective method to aerate a bottle of wine, it's better than simply opening the bottle and drinking it.

Tip
The more surface area the wine has, the more oxygen will be able to interact with the wine.

Step 2: Decant the wine
Open the bottle and pour it into a decanter. Pour the wine slowly into the decanter, and pour it in front of a candle so that you can see when the wine's sediment starts to flow into the decanter and know when to stop pouring.

Step 3: Pour a glass
Pour a glass and let it sit for a few minutes. While swirling the wine in the glass lines the inside of the glass with wine, forming what are called "legs," which allow you to gauge the wine's alcohol content, it also allows even more air to get into the wine.

Step 4: Have a drink
Taste the wine when it's first poured, swirl it in your glass for a few minutes, and then taste it again. As the wine "opens up," it will lose some of its tannins, making for a smoother, more complex taste. Cheers!

Did You Know?
The tannins in wine comes from the skins, seeds, and stems of the grapes.