Letting Wine Breathe

[d8893]

It has been about 6 month since I bottled my first kit. It is a WE Merlot kit. I opened a couple of bottles, and the wine is ok. One of the opened bottles was left open overnight, and the wine tasted much better the next day (I was actually pleasantly surprised). Is it normal for kit wine to have to breathe for a long period of time after it is opened compared to store bought wine?
Thanks!

 

[MN-winer]

I found this to be true of my WE Vintner's reserve Pinot Noir, which is a pretty thin wine. Mine is now a year old and I still open it up hours in advance now. It may depend upon the kit but most kits are not at their best for at least 6 months and some 2 years or more. The way I understand it is that by letting them air out they age quickly and will taste better. There probably is no substitute for a good aged wine I would guess.

 

[Lurker]

I am not a kit guy and have never made one. So, with that disclaimer, you will realize that I am just guessing. Opening a bottle of wine and just letting it sit for a while is akin to decanting. Decanting I always thought was to allow more gas (sulfite) to escape. Less sulfite, means better tasting wine. Someone will tell me how wrong I am, if I am wrong.

 

[mmadmikes1]

I helped drink a $75 bottle of Brucello last week the first taste was nothing special but in an hour it was real nice

 

[Wade E]

I dont know the physics behind this but I know that every wine benefits from decanting and some much more then others. Reds really need this and the more tannin there is the more decanting it needs. Decanting a wine can surely help getting rid of extra sulfites or extra C02 but even a wine with little of these will benefit from it.