Is oxygen good or bad for wine?
04/04/2018
Is oxygen good or bad for wine?
This is a confusing topic for many wine drinkers as we are being sold aerators and decanters to put oxygen into wine when opened and then vacuum pumps to take oxygen out of wine to keep it fresh. Which is it?! Oxygen is a friend and also an enemy of wine— frenemy. In the beginning, oxygen is really great for a wine because as soon as a wine encounters oxygen, it begins to break down, which most people refer to as a wine “opening up.” As the wine opens, it gives off its aromas and also softens, which is good – especially for some full bodied red wines. But if you let a wine sit in a glass exposed to oxygen for too long, say overnight, the oxygen will fully oxidize the wine, ruining it and leaving it with an unpleasant taste that can be flat and even bitter. The jury is out on how well the vacuum pumps work to remove air and thereby oxygen from the wine. A more reliable method is to put the wine into the refrigerator or transfer it into a smaller container to reduce the exposure to oxygen. The best answer is share the bottle with a friend and drink it at it’s best.
Post By:
Allison VanArnam