Just Breathe

Does wine really breathe? The term breathing usually refers to the process of aerating the wine or simply maximizing the wine's exposure to the surrounding air. Wine needs to come in contact with at least a little air to release its bouquet. Technically, the air causes the esters - fragrant liquids - in wine to evaporate or volatilize. In addition the wine will typically warm up causing the wine's aromas to open up and the overall flavor characteristics to improve. That's why you swirl a wine in your glass before you smell it.

Which Wines Need to Breathe
In general, most red wines but only a few white wines and dessert wines can benefit from aeration. Many young, concentrated red wines, like an expensive Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux that can age for several years, undergo a sort of micro aging process by getting lots of air into them. The same goes for a young and concentrated or especially astringent white wine, such as a white Burgundy. The reason is that forced exposure to air begins to oxidize a wine, causing subtle chemical changes that affect both the flavors and the texture.

How to Let Your Wine Breathe
Just popping the cork isn’t going to get you there. Pulling the cork out of the bottle and letting the bottle sit there has little perceptible effect on aerating the wine. Under these circumstances only a small amount of the wine in the bottle has contact with air. The little space in the neck of the bottle is way too small to allow your wine to breathe very much. The best and most entertaining way to accomplish real aeration is to pour the wine into another vessel. If you really want to aerate your wine, do one or both of the following:

Decant - A decanter can be defined as any large liquid container with a wide opening at the top and able to hold the whole bottle of wine. This can be an orange juice pitcher, glass jar or clean flower vase you have on hand. The idea is to splash the wine as much as possible while pouring to maximize the wine’s contact with air. The increased surface area is the key to allowing more air to make contact with the wine.

Wine Glasses - The wine will do a lot more breathing in your glass than it ever would have while still cooped up in the bottle. Pour your wine into large wine glasses and let it aerate about 10 minutes before you plan to drink it. This is certainly the low-maintenance method and typically works quite well.

In general, the Aeration Rule of Thumb: the more tannins a wine has the more time it will need to aerate. Lighter-bodied red wines, Pinot Noir for example, that have lower tannin levels, will need little if any time to breathe.

A Toast to Your Health

Buzz if your goals include: eating better, exercising more and getting healthy. The next time you raise a glass of wine to toast a friend's health, you may be doing more than expressing goodwill. For some of the same reasons "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" a glass of wine a day may set you on your way to wellness.

The Good News on Wine
Now is a great time to enjoy the pleasures of wine, especially since science is discovering the potentially powerful health benefits of drinking the fruit of the vine. We've all heard that red wine is good for us, but how good it is depends on how much and how often you drink it. When it comes to health, all alcoholic beverages are not created equal. While all may have the power to relax us, only red wine contains a lot of polyphenols, heart-friendly antioxidants that help inhibit plaque buildup in the arteries. Polyphenols, or tannins, which are derived from grape skins and seeds give red wine its color and act as protectors against cell damage caused by nasty molecules called free radicals. Wine is not the only source of polyphenols; they're also abundant in a wide variety of foods, including tea, chocolate and many fruits and vegetables.

The Art of Living Well
In the New York Times best-seller, French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, Mireille Guiliano unlocks the simple secrets of the "French Paradox" – how French women, eating in the traditional way, can enjoy rich food and wine without getting fat (or suffer high rates of heart disease.) In a stylish and convincing way Guiliano clears up the mystery by giving away some French "secrets" which include getting regular exercise (not in the gym, but by walking); eating small portions; eating fresh and seasonally; savoring food to increase the feeling of satisfaction and drinking plenty of liquids. Above all, the book outlines eating for pleasure as a motivating factor in losing and maintaining weight. She goes on to say, "pleasure has proved to be the most powerful and lasting motivation..... If we can all harness the pleasure principle, we can lose weight, as French women have done for generations." Guiliano, former CEO of Clicquot Champagne, provides advice that is charming, sensible and tasty.

The "French Paradox"
The potential health benefits of wine were first popularized by the "French Paradox," a 1991 segment on the television show "60 Minutes." The program doesn't talk about wine very often, but when it does, people listen. Their findings uncovered the paradoxical fact that the French have relatively low national rates of coronary heart disease despite their rich diet. Along with moderate wine consumption a few classic principles of French gastronomy are worth taking note of. First, French people who drink alcohol tend not to vary their amount day to day but are consistent with moderate consumption. In contrast, many Americans drink no alcohol during the week and a large amount on weekends, a pattern which appears to increase risk of heart attack. Second, the French habit of eating smaller portions slowly at mealtimes. Rapid consumption of high-calorie meals tends to cause the body to store more energy as fat, and is more likely to lead to overeating than is the French-style of lingering over meals. In addition, the French would rather have a small amount of something delicious than endless quantities of low-fat food that is ultimately unsatisfying. Viva Le France.

While some of the recent wine and health studies are more conclusive than others, many of them offer a good reason to make wine part of a healthy lifestyle. I'll drink to that!