Katerina Mylona is a chemical engineer and oenologist who has worked with wineries in New Zealand, Napa Valley, Argentina and Cyprus. As the founder of HECATE Wine Experts, she works with wine producers to reduce their environmental impact.
Decanting is only for red wines
While red wines often benefit from a bit of air to soften their tannins, whites, rosés and even orange wines can also get in on the action. You see, decanting is all about three things: evaporation (of alcohol and other volatile compounds), oxidation and keeping sediment away.
Take ‘reductive’ whites, such as certain Rieslings or Sauvignon Blancs, which may initially seem aromatically muted or restrained upon opening. Decanting lets them breathe and reveal those fresh, fruity, floral aromas. The same applies to rosés and orange wines with extended skin contact, which often benefit from exposure to air to fully express their character.
Decanting is also great for unfiltered, pét-nat or minimal-intervention bottles, which can have a little sediment that you’d prefer not to sip on. So, next time you pop open a bottle, consider more than its colour when facing the decanting dilemma. Your wine, and your taste buds, will thank you.
Wine should be stored horizontally
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For years, we’ve been told that wine should be stored horizontally. It has been the tradition, it helps keep the cork moist and it’s definitely convenient, but is it actually necessary? As it turns out, the position of your wine bottle might not be as critical as once thought.
In 2018, Dr Miguel Cabral, director of R&D for Amorim, the world’s largest cork producer, said during a discussion that ‘it is a myth that you need to store a bottle on its side’, suggesting that there was enough humidity in the head space to stop the cork drying out.
And recent studies have shown that while horizontal storage may help reduce oxidation and improve flavours in some wines, it’s not a universal rule. So, for example, although a study published in 2022 found that when vintage Port is stored horizontally, it has higher tannin levels and richer flavours than when stored vertically, a 2005 study on dry white wines found that ‘bottle orientation during storage had no discernible effects on the composition and sensory characteristics of the wines’, and other studies have shown no effect on oxygen ingress rates.
When you factor in modern closures with controlled permeability, such as screwcaps, bottle orientation has even less impact. In the end, cellar conditions and closure type play the pivotal role in preserving your wine.
‘Legs’ or ‘tears’ indicate quality
Watching those legs or tears trickle down your glass after you’ve taken a sip or given it a swirl can be mesmerising. Many people believe that they reveal something about a wine’s quality – but they don’t.
The science here is simple but exciting. Wine legs are a result of what’s known as the Marangoni effect, whereby liquids flow from areas of low surface tension to those with a higher surface tension. Wine is largely a mixture of alcohol and water. Alcohol has a lower surface tension and higher volatility than water, and as some of the alcohol evaporates from the film of wine on the glass, the liquid left behind has a higher surface tension (more water, less alcohol), which causes it to ‘pull in’ the surrounding fluid. Eventually, the fluid’s weight exceeds the force of the effect, and gravity causes it to drip back down the side of the glass, forming those legs/tears. So the legs can tell us something about the wine’s alcohol content – more alcohol usually means more prominent legs – but nothing about its quality.
So, next time you sip, marvel at the tears before they fade, but remember that your palate is where the real magic happens.
Sulphites = headaches
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You’ve had a glass of red wine and the next day, like clockwork, a headache…
Source : https://www.decanter.com/wine/wine-myths-debunked-four-cases-unpicked-549543/
