[Avodah] Wine left out

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 07/13/2015 11:18 PM, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> My question to this is why is it that the Shulchan Aruch, MB and
> others take it as a given that leaving wine out worsens the taste?
> Did they not know that allowing wine to breath improves the taste, at
> least for a decent red wine (which is the type of wine they think we
> should be drinking)?

First of all, most good wines shouldn't breathe for very long.

Second, their wine was generally pretty awful by our standards;
bad enough that it needed watering to make it palatable.   They
used wild yeast, they had no pasteurization, and it was all they
could do to stop it all turning into vinegar.  I wonder how much
damage could exposure possibly do to wine that bad, but I seriously
doubt it could improve it.

-- 
Zev Sero               I have a right to stand on my own defence, if you
zev at sero.name          intend to commit felony...if a robber meets me in
                        the street and commands me to surrender my purse,
                        I have a right to kill him without asking questions
                                               -- John Adams