Why do we swirl wine before we taste it?

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According to scientists, swirling your wine around in the glass uses the physics of wave technology to enhance the flavour compounds in the glass. This means we can better smell and taste the wine.

It does this in two ways. Firstly it invites oxygen into the wine, which opens up the flavours due to chemical reactions. However, it's also specific to the shape of a glass of wine, as where the wave reaches the glass wall and the free liquid in the middle cascade over one another and essentially "mix" the wine around.

It's in fact this mixing process - kept gentle as it is done by the human hand - that allows a wine to "open up" through its chemical reactions with oxygen. The result is a wine you can better smell and, as a result, better taste.

This video was presented by broadcast journalist Yasmin Cooke and award-winning wine writer Ben Franks.