(NapaValleyRegister) - Last week while having dinner with friends at a favorite local restaurant, we ordered a young sauvignon blanc to start and an older cabernet for the main course. As he was opening the sauvignon blanc, the server asked if he should open the cabernet as well to let it breathe. As we all know this is not an uncommon question, but what does it really mean? Wine is a living thing, and as living things do, it breathes. But not in the way we normally think of the physical act of “breathing.” Rather, in a literal sense a wine “breathes” as it is aerated by a passive exposure to air. This process goes on throughout the life of the wine and is generally beneficial to its development.