For most wine consumers, holding wine means buying it on a Tuesday and drinking it on a Saturday. The next rarer wine consumer who likes to keep a healthy stash of a dozen bottles or so on hand will most likely never hold a single bottle for more than 12 months. Rarer still are those who lay down wine with the strategy of drinking a portion of their cache over the years. In this case, you will want to be familiar with decanting wine.
What does this have to do with decanting wine? I’m glad you asked. I point out typical buying and consumption patterns only to illustrate that most wine is purchased and drunk shortly after release. The same goes for dining out – most restaurant wine lists are comprised of current releases. Restaurants and wine bars should surely decant more frequently than observed by this writer. Many red wines, especially dense and concentrated wines like Cabernet, Nebbiolo, and Zinfandel, as well as wines with a healthy dose of acidity, such as Sangiovese and Tempranillo, among others, are happiest with a bit of a wake-up. Decanting provides the perfect wake-up.
Decanting wine is seen by many as one of those stodgy old traditions that wine snobs love to enact. Don’t let this detour you. The kind of decanting I most fervently advocate is a simple procedure with no fanfare or rituals.
Your youthful red will show all its depth and clever nuances once it has had proper breathing. To achieve this, all you need is a glass decanter that holds a bottle of wine with a bit of room to spare, and the wine opener of your choice. Open the wine and splash it into the decanter at a 45-degree angle. If you are feeling confident, slow the flow as you near the end and look for sediment. You are unlikely to encounter any debris, but if you do, choose to leave as much of it behind in the bottle as possible.
Decanting Wines — Choosing the Tool for the Job
If you don’t have a decanter, you don’t need to wait for a holiday or submit a gift registry. A quick look at Amazon.com revealed about 100 glass decanters priced at $30 or less. You can click your mouse and have a decanter in your hands by the weekend. We like this decanter from Amazon because it’s classic, sturdy, and won’t break the bank.
If you need just one decanter, choose one with a capacity of 1 liter, since the typical wine bottle holds 3/4 liter. When you get your decanting groove on, you will find yourself wanting a decanter with even a larger capacity and different shapes as well. A tall, slender decanter will slowly aerate your wine, while a wider version with more surface area will aerate more assertively. Common sense, right?
Decanting Wines — Older Wines
Decanting older wines can be tricky; this is where the rituals come in. You want to decant an older wine when you are reasonably sure it will benefit from accelerated aeration and when you want to separate it from the sediment. If you are ready to pull an older wine from your collection, spontaneity is probably not an issue. This is a good thing, as you will want to stand the bottle upright in a quiet place for 2 days. This should be sufficient time for the fine sediment to settle.
Further, you may want to question the wisdom of decanting. First, open the wine. (See our feature on wine openers to be sure you have the best tool for the job.) If you are unsure of the wine’s maturation, carefully pour a small sample after opening and before decanting. If, after 10 minutes, the wine shows signs of advanced maturation, you should skip decanting. Instead ready the glasses to be shared and pour a generous portion while never allowing the wine bottle to become fully vertical. In this way, you will keep as much of the sediment as possible at the bottom of the bottle.
If the wine is still full of vigor, proceed with decanting. I prefer to fully eliminate the foil, which goes against all sommelier training, but I’m at home and want to make things as easy as possible. Find a light source: a candle, a small flashlight, a mobile phone, or something else to assist you in spotting the sediment. Slowly pour the wine into the decanter in one motion – no stopping and starting. As you reach the end of the bottle, you will likely encounter a bit of sediment. It’s up to you to spot the cut-off point. In the end, you’re balancing the desire to get every drop and the desire to have glasses of wine free of sediment.
If you have managed this, you have accomplished the tricky type of decanting and are now some sort of wine guru. While this accomplishment doesn’t come with a t-shirt, you should feel a warm glow of victory nonetheless.
If I haven’t convinced you to get a decanter, please go to the top of the page and read again. For the rest of you, let’s have a drink.
Do you want to better understand serving wine? May we suggest Be A Beverage Expert (BABE), a guide to understanding wine, beer, spirits, and cocktails.