When Wine + Oxygen = Perfection
By Monica McCall
Sometimes you can speed the aging process of a young, tannic red wine by opening it, re-corking it and placing it in a cool, dry environment for a week.
On February 16th I opened a bottle of wine. It had some nice red fruit, plum and black currant aromas and flavors with an herbal backing. However, the tannins still seemed a bit powerful and the wine a little austere. My husband and I each had a glass and then re-corked it and put it in the fridge.
Upon returning from vacation on February 25th we let the wine come to room temperature and then poured a glass. Voila! Now this was much better! The tannins softened, the fruit was more expressive and the acidity was in balance. There seemed to be a complex bottle age bouquet–the smells that come from gradual oxidation–versus just grape aromas. A smoky, cedar, earthiness developed in the wine as well as more refined fruit flavors.
A fun and informative experiment is to taste a wine each night over a 5-7 day period and record notes on color, aromas, and flavors to see how the wine changes over time and with oxygen exposure. Pick up a bottle of the Argiano NC and see for yourself.
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