3 minute read
A Toast to Toasting
By Josiah Kahiu
Whether it’s opening up a bottle for an impromptu celebration, serving a glass while catching up with old friends or simply pouring yourself a generous splash while you get the dinner on, we all have our own rituals and traditions when it comes to enjoying a glass of wine. Perhaps the most universal is the toast - clinking our glasses together and ‘cheersing’ one another before we begin a meal or sit down to enjoy a drink and each other’s company.
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Have you ever wondered why we toast by clinking our glasses together? Some have suggested that the sound was thought to drive out evil spirits and demons and therefore blessing the occasion, while others say that the motion of clinking glasses makes each drinker spill a little of his own wine into his neighbours glass - making it hard to poison somebody without poisoning yourself. However, it is now thought that the simple ‘clink’ of the glasses is a way of bringing the fifth sense, sound, into a ritual which already includes the other four senses: sight, smell, touch and taste. Historically, toasting was seen as a duty especially in the first century BCE when the Roman Senate decreed that the health of Emperor Augustus be drunk at every meal—though more often it evolved into a sort of a drinking game. The poet Martial, who wrote snarky verses in the first century BCE, described a Roman party practice in which each guest was compelled to drink as many glasses of wine as there were letters in his mistress’s name.
The term toast literally came from dropping a piece of spiced or charred bread into someone’s cup. This was either done to flavour the wine or to act as a form of h’ors d’oeuvre. The art of toasting also evolved over time to not only bringing glasses together but catching the toastees eye. No longer was it seen necessary to guzzle the entire cup of wine after every toast but a sip was considered sufficient. A mid-nineteenth century etiquette manual proposed that toasting should be carried out “quietly and unobtrusively.”
So when it comes to toasting, there will always be a moment to start a new tradition of your own with friends and family. Whether it is “maisha marefu” or Humphrey Bogart’s last toast to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca— “Here’s looking at you, kid” - what matters is who and what you are toasting to. I leave you with these wise wine drinking words - May your beautiful lips never blister!
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When it comes to letting wine breathe, simply removing the cork will not make much of a difference. Unless the wine is fully decanted, opening it and leaving it in the bottle for an hour will not affect the wine in the manner you want it to. This is simply due to the fact that not enough of the wine in terms of surface area has come into contact with the air. This is generally the reason that wines can stay “fresh” in their bottles for a couple of days before they go off. So why and when do we let wine breathe? Decanting wine helps improve its character. As wine is a living, breathing organism, exposure to air after it is bottled may help it evolve even further. But remember, not all wines need the same amount of decanting, so always research the wine beforehand to know what steps to take. If you are dealing with an old vintage, there is always a risk of aerating it too much as it oxidises faster than younger wines. For the older vintages, it is sometimes easier to just pour it into a decent red wine glass compared to a decanter. Young vintages, on the other hand, can handle a more rigorous decanting process. Some of the younger wines can go through a process of double decanting, meaning they can be poured into a decanter then back into the bottle for more aeration. For the younger wines, letting the wine stand for at least an hour is always advisable. It is also important to know what wines to decant. White wines, with their lack of tannins, generally do not need to be decanted. It is also important to note that not all red wines favour decanting. More delicate and nuanced varieties such as Pinot Noir may not need to be decanted as it may spoil the structure of the wine, whereas big full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignons will benefit from decanting as it helps to smooth out the flavours.
