Modern methods of wine making and the low-sulfur used makes aerating by any means a waste of time. And, don’t waste your money on devices that claim “instant breathing” or “accelerated aging”. Besides, just removing the cork won’t yield any change in the wine over an entire day, never mind a few minutes at the table.
The seeming improvement in the taste of the wine over the course of a mean has little to do with the wine and everything to do with —74 YOU! Your first taste of a wine (first bottle of the day) results in intense sensations from the alcohols, and pucker from the acids and tannins. The improvement in the taste over the course of drinking a bottle (especially big reds) seems to come from the slight evaporation of the ethanol in the wine, the adapting of the pallet, it becoming more tolerant and less sensitive to these stimuli, and the taste buds and brain also become more and more anesthetized from the ethanol. The wine seems to taste smoother and more complex, when it is in fact the taster’s sensitivities and perceptions that undergo the swiftest and most dramatic change.
The smell of the wine is the primary source of the pleasure it can bring. The smells in wine are comprised of Volatile Organic Compounds. Some VOCs are present in such minute concentrations and are so volatile that they may be exhausted and disappear completely with only a few seconds of aeration. So, don’t aerate the wine by any means so that you don’t miss the subtleties of the wine.
Before you argue against this point, try an experiment (with no deviation or prejudice). It requires two bottles of the same wine, preferably from the same case, two identical decanters, masking tape, a pen, and an assistant (although this exercise is more instructive and fun with additional tasters). The morning of your tasting, open and decant one bottle. Do not open the other bottle. Out of sight, the assistant uses the pen and masking tape to mark each bottle and its corresponding decanter (with a random mark, such as X and O) to keep track. Several hours later, but immediately before tasting and out of sight of the taster(s), he decants the second bottle. The wines are then immediately poured “blind” for the tasters to decide which bottle (decanter) smells and tastes best. Most taster prefer the just-opened bottle most of the time. Furthermore, these results will be consistent, whether using young or aged wines, whether white or red, and whether the tasters are experienced or not.
If you are unwilling to forgo the “breathing” ritual and you truly place great value in allowing your wines to aerate, simply pulling corks won’t do it. Decant the wine, regardless of an absence of sediment. However, you must keep in mind that the older the bottle of wine, the more brief the aroma window, so gather your friends around to appreciate the fragrances as you decant to remove any sediment and then pour that wine at once!
A wine cabinet is the best way to keep your wines in the correct environment and with a wide selection you can always have a choice of wines to drink tonight without going to the store.
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