Why are you supposed to let a bottle of wine “breathe” after opening it?
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Wine is made of lots of aromatic compounds, each with different thresholds in which human senses can actually detect them. When you first open a wine they all hit you all at once, a bit like pressing all the keys down on a piano at once resulting in lots of “dissonance” from an imbalance of aromas overpowering each other, and others which are undesirable. It depends on the wine and age and what you’re trying to achieve from either decanting or leaving a wine open before drinking, but letting it settle for a bit allows some of those compounds to dissipate leaving the desired and more pleasant “resonance”. It doesn’t apply the same way in all situations, for example Pinot Noir being a lighter more delicate wine most people will never decant, whereas full-bodied wines can benefit from letting it “breathe”.
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