The truth is, wine will aerate on its own, as soon as you pour it into your glass. And the truth also is – that may not be enough.Hence the invention of wine aerators.Many wines can benefit from aeration (exposure to air), and some benefit more than others. Red wines, and particularly younger red wines, can often benefit the most from aeration, and provide better aromas and flavors after some amount of air exposure – whether in the glass, by being decanted, or through the use of a wine aeration device. The best way to sort it all out is by tasting and deciding for yourself how much aeration to give a particular wine, but there are some rules of thumb that can be useful to keep in mind.First of all, wine aeration is not always recommended. If a wine is delicate in some way – whether because it is a lighter, more delicate type of wine such as many Pinot Noirs, or perhaps an older bottling that is getting toward the end of its drinkability, then you may want to minimize the aeration and drink very soon after opening the bottle. And most white wines do not really require/benefit from aeration the way red wines generally do, although there are exceptions.On the other hand, extra aeration may be perfect for a young, strong red wine such as a Cabernet Sauvignon that probably could have used some more time in the bottle, but you want to go ahead and drink it now anyway – give that one an especially heavy dose of aeration and see how it improves the flavor profile. Many tools are available on the market for aeration, and most of them provide a low level of aeration that would be hard to over-do, even if you tried. But there is a new approach to aerating wine that is causing a stir in some blogs lately and that involves throwing convention out the window and getting a bit more radical – these techniques range from pouring the entire bottle in the blender (hold onto that lid!), to using an immersion-type aerator to almost instantly aerate the wine to a high degree – think soup puree device applied to wine. To start small, try aerating one glass and not another, then compare - you may be surprised at how much aeration can improve the flavor of a wine. And whether you "go radical" with your wine swizzle stick, or simply let the wine mellow for a while in the glass before you drink it - chances are, once you've tasted the difference it makes, you'll become an avid aerator!
