Decanting Explained

Which wines should we decant? I cannot tell you how many times

we get this question. The purpose of decanting is to remove sediment

in more mature wines, and/or for aeration (most often for younger

wines). As full- bodied reds age, they develop deposits of sediment

(as the tannic acids break down the solid polymers, which come

from the skins, seeds, and stems). After the bottle has been upright

for several hours,careful pouring helps to separate the sediment

from the clear wine. Younger full-bodied wines can benefit from

aeration, revealing their tightly wound aromatics. The flavors and

complexities can be coaxed out as the wine opens up. Opening a

bottle and letting it sit without the cork may not be enough, since

there is only a miniscule amount of the wine's surface in contact

with any oxygen (about the diameter of a Nickel or Quarter).

Some people may have noticed that at some of our events we

may pour wine from a bottle into a decanter and then back into

the same bottle (double decanting). This serves 3 purposes. It is a

much more rapid way to aerate the wine. It is also easier to pour

out of a bottle (rather than from a decanter) for larger groups

of people. And finally, the original bottle makes a better

presentation than an unlabeled decanter.