Adding water to wine does not always go down well with the purists, but it has been done for centuries, as far back as Ancient Greece and Rome. Not only is it acceptable, but in some cases, adding a drop or two of water can actually improve your wine.
Wine is about 85 per cent water. The rest is alcohol, but also small amounts of acid, phenolics and minerals that add the all-important flavours that make wine taste so nice.
You may already be drinking diluted wine, as spritzers and wine coolers are simply a mix of sparkling water and wine, sometimes with other fruit flavours added. On a hot sunny day, adding a little sparkling water or a few cubes of ice can make it so much more refreshing. In Ancient Rome and Greece, wine was usually watered down to avoid drunkenness, while also making the water safe to drink. The Greeks, apparently, added seawater – not something I’ve ever tried but it doesn’t sound great. They also flavoured wine with herbs, spices and honey, probably to make old, oxidised wine more palatable.
At home, I tend to avoid the big, powerful alcoholic reds, partly because I don’t want to ingest too much alcohol, but often because I don’t like the flavours. My job obliges me to taste them, but not necessarily to drink them. Over the last few decades, wine has become more alcoholic. For instance, most Bordeaux was once 12.5-13 per cent. These days, it is more likely to be 14-14.5 per cent and even 15 per cent sometimes. Full-bodied red wines can be very extracted and overwhelm the senses rather than refresh the palate. A while ago, I began adding a teaspoonful or two of water to my glass of big red and found that it transformed the wine. It became much more aromatic and fruitier, turning those jammy prunes and sweet dark cassis into fresh blackcurrants and summer fruits. According to food writer and scientist Harold McGee, alcohol binds to flavour compounds in a wine, masking the flavours a little, and adding water helps release those flavours.
Now I am not suggesting that you start adding large quantities of water to your finest wines.
Adding water also seems to change the tannic structure of a wine and can make it taste a little dry and hollow, so I never add too much, usually a teaspoon or two, and I do not add it to my best bottles. However, on a warm sunny day a few cubes of ice in a fruity white wine will make all the difference. It is one thing to add water to wine; but so far I have failed to turn my water into wine.
