Why should red wine but not white be allowed to breathe

A.� Because red wine contains the grapes pips and skins, along with the juice. The flavour of red wine is dependent on the reaction of the tannin in these extra elements with oxygen. However the flavour of white wine is mainly derived from the grapes juice.

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Q.� Why let red wine breathe when shaking it around for a few seconds would be much quicker

A.� Because shaking the wine to add oxygen would produce a very different taste than just letting it breathe, although it can improve the taste of other drinks. Depending on what type of red wine you're drinking, agitating it could over expose it to oxygen and you'd end up with vinegar.

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Q.� So James Bond isn't just being picky when he asks for his martini shaken not stirred

A.� No, letting as much oxygen as possible pass through a martini obviously results in the desired effect for 007.

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Q.� Why decant red wine

A.� Originally decanting wine was a means of separating out the sediment, bits of skin and pips that found their way into the bottle and made drinking it a rather chewy business

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Q.� 'Originally', so what's changed

A.� Now wine is usually decanted for a different reason. Decanting, and therefore aerating the wine, allows its full flavour to be released quicker. This is necessary because wine drunk these days tends to be relatively young and often needs a helping hand regarding releasing all of its aromas. .

Q.� Why not just pull the cork like most people

A.� There are several, some rather cynical possible explanations, for this one. Obviously decanted wine doesn't carry any giveaway label betraying your possibly budget choice.

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The other danger of drinking decanted wine in a restaurant is that you can never tell how much of the original bottle has made it to your table and how much is sitting in a glass behind the scenes for the waiter once he's finished his shift.

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But the les mean spirited reason for decanting wine rather than just letting it breath in the bottle is that, in the same way that shaking it vigorously in a cocktail shaker could result in a wine with too much oxygen, simply corking the bottle won't achieve the desired amount of contact with the air because of the small surface area of the bottle top.

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by Lisa Cardy