Decanting Wine

There are two reasons to decant your wine – to remove sediment and to aerate it. New wines will benefit the most form decanting. Giving younger wines time in a decanter will liven them up and enhance their flavour. During the time that a young wine spends in a decanter, a large surface area will come into contact with the air, altering the wine and softening its yet undeveloped flavour from one that has a bit of bite to a more complex one that would normally develop over the years in your wine cellar. When you give a young, inexpensive bottle time to breathe (an hour or two), you will definitely notice the difference.

On the other hand, wines which have aged in the bottle, red wines more so than white, will generally have some sediment. Not only is this sediment unattractive, it can be unpleasant should you get a mouthful with your wine. Mature red wines should definitely be decanted.

To decant an aged bottle of wine, remove it from its storage spot, and if you think there will be a considerable amount of sediment, you should leave the bottle standing upright for a day prior to decanting. This will allow any sediment time to settle into the bottom of the bottle.

When you are ready to decant your wine, along with your decanter, you will also need a source of light, such as a candle. Begin by removing the entire wrap from around the neck of the bottle. It’s very important to leave nothing on the neck so that you easily see the wine and check for sediment as you are pouring it. Work with the candle behind the bottle – it should be placed at a height that will illuminate the neck as you pour.

Use a gentle, steady movement, causing the least amount of disturbance of the sediment. Keeping the neck of the bottle over the light source, watch for an “arrowhead” of sediment moving into the neck of the bottle. Once you see this, this is your cue to stop pouring.

Salut!

Sandy King

 

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