Why do I need to decant before drinking red wine? What will happen if I drink it straight? Read on to learn more about red wine!
In many movies and TV shows, you will see this kind of scenario. Before drinking red wine, the waiter will be asked to sober up in advance, or even strain, for 1-2 hours, and then start drinking. Why do I have to sober up before drinking red wine? Can’t I just drink it? Now, let us give you a detailed introduction so that you can better understand red wine after reading.
First, why do I need to decant? What is the purpose of sobering up?
First, to promote the volatilization of sulfur dioxide. When drinking red wine, a small amount of sulfur dioxide is poured into the bottle and when it is sealed. As we all know, sulfur dioxide is an irritating and unpleasant gas, which can also affect health. However, a small amount of sulfur dioxide can prevent red wine from deteriorating. Therefore, after opening the bottle of red wine, pour out and decant for a period of time to promote the volatilization of sulfur dioxide, so as not to affect the taste.
Second, softening tannins. Tannin is one of the important factors affecting the quality of red wine, but too much tannin will lead to a decline in taste. Therefore, after opening the bottle of red wine, you should decant, so that the tannins are fully exposed to oxygen for oxidation. In this way, the taste of red wine will become better, softer and more delicate.
Third, release the aroma. Red wine itself has a special fruit and red wine aroma, but after a long period of storage, these aromas are “asleep”, so they need to be poured out, let them come into contact with the air and “decant”, so called “decant up “.
Fourth, filtering and sedimentation. Many good red wine, aged red wine, more or less are precipitation. One is the tartaric acid precipitation accumulated over the years, the other is the unfiltered pulp residue and yeast combined to form. However, these two types of precipitation do not affect the quality of the wine, but they do affect the taste. Therefore, it is necessary to slowly pour and filter out the final precipitates during the sobering process.
These are the reasons for sobering up after drinking red wine. So if you don’t want to sober up, what happens if you drink it straight? Not much, but the taste will be a bit worse, with a heavy sour taste and a light aroma of clear red wine. If you want quality, you’d better sober up a bit. However, not all red wines need to be decanted, and the following two types of red wines do not need to be decanted.
First of all, red wine is characterized by fresh fruit aromas and does not need a red wine at all. Open the bottle, shake it, and you can drink it straight away. Secondly, some fully matured red wines do not need to be decanted as long as they have not settled. Pour it into a glass, shake it gently, and you can drink it straight away. Over decanting will accelerate oxidation and reduce the taste and aroma of red wine. Why do I need to decant before drinking red wine? What happens if I drink it straight? In short, it promotes the volatilization of sulfur dioxide, softens the tannins, releases the aromas, and filters the sedimentation.
