Wine, or fermented grapes, stands as one of the world’s favorite beverages alongside beer, coffee, tea, and plain water. For a few millennia now, people around the world have enjoyed fine wine, and many variants exist. Red and white wines are the two main categories to be found today, appearing with many different fruit flavors and level of dryness, not to mention many different brands. In Japan, rice wine known as sake is also popular, and is sometimes exported or made outside of Japan as a novelty. Today’s concept of wine dates back to the Romans and Greeks in particular, with our modern term “wine” coming from the Latin “vinum.” This is also where we get “vineyards.” Many white wines and red wines can be found at today’s wineries and online markets today, and today’s young adults love wine just as much as their parents, if not more so. Someone new to one may wonder: what does it mean for red wine to be “dry?” And how long do you let wine breathe? Asking “how long do you let wine breathe?” is a fine question for a budding wine enthusiast to ask, as wine can be treated or mistreated in all sorts of ways. That may start with “how long do you let wine breathe?”
All About Wine
Wine is simply a drink, but at the same time, it is also more complicated than that. Many wine drinkers are particular about the brand, age, flavor, and price of wine, and they may even concern themselves with the type of wood used in its casket. And what about “how long do you let wine breathe?”
Letting wine breathe is quite important, as new wine lovers may soon find out. When wine is opened, the air inside the bottle may have some unwanted odors and impurities, but exposing the wine to open air helps disperse them. This is most important for wines under eight years old, where a lot of tannic acid may be present. Allowing the wine to breathe for one or two hours is best. Meanwhile, wines older than eight years may need only 30 minutes or so, and very old, vintage wines might not need to breathe at all. It may be noted that white wine, rose wine, and champagne may not need to be aired, and can be opened right before they are poured.
Wine-making is relatively new to the Americas, as wine-making is centuries old in France and Italy. All the same, Americans have certainly acquired a taste for it, and studies show just how much. In 2016, for example, some 2.94 gallons of wine were consumed per person, on average, making for 949 million gallons of it consumed in that year. And in February 2017, 5% of all Americans reported that they drink wine daily. Who is drinking it? Certainly, older Americans appreciate wine with a meal or for a special occasion, but the young adults known as Millennials are particular wine enthusiasts. Born from 1982-1995, the Millennials are often studied to determine their preferences and interests, and wine ranks among them. In 2015, USA Today determined that Millennials consumed 42% of all wine in the United States, and they drank 159.6 million cases of it in that year. In January 2016, some 17% of all Millennials had spent $20 or more on a wine bottle. Clearly, they love this drink as much as their Baby Boomer parents, if not more so, but any wine lover can find plenty of wine online or at local wineries. How?
Find Some Wine
The U.S. is home to many vineyards and wineries, most of them in California due to that state’s size and favorable climate. Many American wine lovers visit local wineries to pick up bottles, but they may also order a wide variety of wines online, too. Online catalogs may help a customer narrow down and find their selection, then order it. However, wine suffers when exposed to heat, like in a semi truck’s trailer, so an order of wine may arrive at a warehouse near the customer’s residence and workers will move that wine into a cooler on-site. The customer will then be notified, and they may visit to collect their order.
