Do Wines Breathe?

1998 ALA/ATS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

DO WINES BREATHE?

For Release: Monday April 27, 1998

Contact:
Mike White
703 739-1363
312 808-2005 as of April 26th

Chicago - The seriousness of breathing is captured in the slogan of the American Lung Association: "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters." Does the same hold true for wine? A lighter look at breathing can be found in one of the scientific papers being presented at the 1998 American Lung Association/American Thoracic Society International Conference which is entitled: "Do Wines Breathe?"

It is common custom to open a bottle of wine a few hours before consumption to "allow it to breathe." However, Dr. Nirmal B. Charan of the Pulmonary Research Laboratory of the VA Medical Center in Boise, Idaho and colleagues questioned whether wine could indeed "breathe" while still in the bottle given its narrow neck. To test their hypothesis, they opened five bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and measured gas tensions in samples obtained from the top and the bottom of the wine bottles immediately after the opening of the bottle and then at two, four, six and twenty-four hours thereafter. Some six hours after opening the bottle, oxygen partial pressure had increased only slightly and carbon dioxide partial pressure remained the same. The measures of acidity or alkalinity (pH) did not change significantly.

But, when the wine was swirled in a glass for two minutes, there resulted a rapid equilibrium of oxygen partial pressure with air, and carbon dioxide partial pressure decreased markedly. The researchers also noted a definite improvement in taste of the wine. They then bubbled oxygen through a needle into two other corked bottles of wine. This technique reportedly resulted in a better taste, quite similar to swirling.

Dr. Charan and colleagues concluded that when left in an open bottle, wine is unable to breathe, and the swirling of wine in a glass is a better technique for aeration. They also concluded that oxygenation of wine alone results in an improved taste. This study may have quality of life implications for wine drinkers, but it should be noted that almost all of the thousands of papers being presented at the international conference deal with the cause, prevention and treatment of serious lung diseases.

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