Let your wine breath

Let your wine breath (view larger image in Flickr).

I expect you're familiar with the advice to open a bottle of red wine and let the wine "breath" for a while before starting to drink it. You may, like some, have considered it silly "wine snob" stuff. Well, last night, I experienced the very real good sense in this advice (always assuming, of course, that you do actually want to enjoy your wine at its best!).

Last night, my mother and I opened a bottle of Caño Cosecha, a red wine from the Toro region in Spain. As we started drinking it, I commented on how it was rather a light, thin red wine. I paused half way through that first glass to go and get something to eat. When I returned to the wine around 20 minutes later, it was hard to believe I was drinking the same stuff! The wine now had real depth and character, with a spicy edge to it. Simply sitting there for 20 minutes had completely transformed it.

So do open your red wine about 30 minutes before actually starting to drink it - you will be amazed at the difference that can make to how it tastes.