We are used to aerate red wine more than white wine. However, in spite of popular belief, white wine also needs to be aerated. That way, it can reveal all its aromas during tasting!
Which white wines should we aerate?
Younger white wines benefit from a good aeration, all the more so if they are aged in barrels. We advise you to aerate your bottles if they meet these criteria and if they are less than five years old. On the one hand, oxygenation of your wine will eliminate some unpleasant smells that may have developed since bottling. On the other hand, the aromas of your wine will reveal through oxygenation. In addition, white wines generally tolerate oxidation better depending on their acidity.
White wines to aerate
It will therefore be useful to aerate a young and complex white wine. For example, white Grands Bourgognes are wines that need to be aerated. Indeed, the aromatic palette of these wines is fully revealed during aeration and it would be a shame not to take advantage of all the aromas in your bottle! Aeration will give you a more harmonious wine.
Aeration can also be very useful on white wines that still contain carbon dioxide from fermentation. We can for example mention Alsace wines such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer or Muscadet. However, this is not a general rule and it depends entirely on your wine.
We can also mention great wines from the Rhône Valley such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Condrieu. They will appreciate coming into contact with oxygen to reveal all their aromas.
Conclusion
To conclude, white wines must be aired like red wines to develop their aromas. This mainly concerns white wines that are less than 5 years old. Be careful with older wines. A bottle that is about ten years old, you have to be very delicate because putting the wine in contact with the air can have irreversible consequences!
And if you don’t know if your wine needs to be aerated, download the Aveine application (apple or android).
