If wines travel 30, 50 or even up to 100 kilometres, they can be opened on arrival. The assumption is that before departure they were stored in suitable conditions, such as those usually found in the wineries, wine shops or restaurants that sell them. An hour on the road will not tire them. If the distances are greater, they should be allowed to rest from the shock of the journey. Wines are like people, and rough roads, turbulence in an aeroplane or other forms of continuous motion can change them for a while. Their aromas and flavour become less expressive, and they need rest to show once again the qualities for which we bought them in the first place. The American Master Sommelier Dana Gaiser writes that this resting time is not the same for every wine: unfiltered wines, for example, need more days or weeks than filtered ones for the sediment dispersed through the bottle during travel to settle and calm down. 
Contrary to popular belief, Gaiser argues that air freight is the gentlest method of transporting wine over longer distances, and a week’s rest will be enough for it to return to full form. Overland transport, he says, is harder on wines and they will need a few weeks of rest, while shipping by sea causes the greatest shock in the bottle and calls for up to a month of settling before opening. There is no formula that gives a definitive answer to how much rest a wine needs after travelling, but let us repeat that wines are like people. We ourselves are hardly at our best after a flight or a long drive.
Cover photo: Emmanuel Awotunde, Unsplash
