Some wines like to breathe, as I think almost everyone agrees. And then there are claims that this or that wine really is at its best 48, 72 or even more hours after opening. I take these views with a pinch of salt - I have certainly seen wines better a day later (although I can't recall anything being better two days later), but more than that I can't recall having experienced.

Just thinking though about the Pertimali Brunello I am finishing as I read this, and a lot of Piedmont wines that I have drunk, I'm tempted to say that that for most wines that seem better a day later, it's mainly that the original wine was reductive.

I think it's something I am sensitive to and (while admitting that a lot of my favourite ageworthy growers turn out stuff that's reductive to at least some degree) often find myself saying something is undrinkable because of this that others find unproblematical.

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