Micheal,

Racking is the best way to age a wine. The oxygen added when bottling
obviously helped. You also may of had CO2 that blew off on the
racking. After 12 years of winemaking I have noticed that it's almost
easier to suffocate a wine then to add to much oxygen. If you don't
rack enough the wine will not degas and will not age correctly.

On May 21, 9:14*am, michael > wrote:
> Some of you may recall that I have been having problems with my 2006
> Regent red wine.It seemed tannic and rather harsh after about 3.5
> years in a 5 litre demijohn.However it has now been in a bottle for 3
> months and on opening a bottle this lunchtime,I was very pleasantly
> surprised how much smoother it had become.In fact my wife described it
> now as being very good and smooth,whereas previously she described it
> as harsh and tannic.
> What happens to red wine when it is bottled? I always have assumed
> that the wine in a 5l glass demijohn would taste the same as that in a
> 70cl glass bottle.Is it the air one introduces when transferring,and
> does that suggest that I should be racking my wines rather more than I
> do?
> Comments welcome.
> Michael