Can you swirl wine too much?

Answer 1

Two reasons. 1. Swirling wines draws air into the wine. The mixture of air and wine releases and intensifies the aroma of the wine. It is customary to smell your wine prior to the first sip as part of the tasting experience. Not only is this fun to do, it gives you an idea of what you are about to taste. 2. Some wines are to dry for the consumers taste. This is usually due to tannic acids in the wine. Swirling the wine draws oxygen from the air into the wine. The oxygen reacts with the tannic acid causing the wine to mellow. You should only do this when you do not like the wine in it's current state. *** Never swirl champagne or sparkling wines *** This removes the carbonation and causes the wine to go flat.

Answer 2

Actually, yes. Swirling is designed to help aerate the wine after it's been sitting in the bottle for an extended period of time - similar to aerating in a decanter. Swirling also helps the wine to evaporate more quickly into the glass, allowing the wines scents to concentrate in the glass (hence, why there are different types of wine glasses).

However, swirling too much is similar to letting a wine sit open for too long - it will begin to oxidize. How much is too much? It depends. I have a bad habit of swirling constantly purely out of habit (I even swirl beer and water when I'm not thinking).



Swirl initially to open up the flavors of the wine. A few more swirls along the way is also fine, but don't constantly swirl the wine.