Decanting Wine

Decanting seems to be somewhat of a lost art amongst many wine lovers these days, especially with my fellow amateurs. This is something I would love to change as it can add so much to your entire wine experience, and is one of the simplest things you can do to make wine better. In my opinion to understand anything you need to know at least a bit about its history, so this is where we will start.

After that we will take a look at how decanting is used today and why it is so important to wine, mainly reds. After that we will take a look at how you actually go about decanting a wine properly to get the best result. Finally, we’ll take a peek at some of the modern alternatives to decanting that exist today thanks to our greater understanding of wine. So shall we get started?

History is important, since it helps us understand why we do many things that we do today in the modern world. Decanting is no different, as it started long ago as a way to make wine better and more appealing to the discerning palate. In the past wine was quite literally unrefined with quite a bit of solid particulates floating around in it from the whole wine making process. This solid matter consisted of everything from grape remains to dead yeast and was really quite unpleasant both from an aesthetic as well as taste point of view. These particulates were pretty nasty if you happened to have some in your glass and could ruin an otherwise perfectly good glass of wine. To solve this problem people began the process of decanting which helps separate those unsightly particles from the wine leaving you with a lovely and clear glass of your favourite vino. It was a necessary step for the upper classes back then since who would want such an unsightly wine on the table. And thus, decanting took off and increasingly more grandiose and beautiful decanters were created to suitably display your fine wine.

Today you really don’t have the same problems that they had with wine back then, for the most part, due to the increasing use of refining and filtering wine before if goes into the bottle. Because of this, most wine bought in the stores today really doesn’t have to be decanted but can still benefit quite substantially from the process. This is because, even though they don’t have the particulates, the act of decanting wine also aerates the wine which is extremely beneficial. Aerating a full bodied young red wine can really mellow it out quite a bit by softening the tannins and their subsequent bite as well as bring out aromas in the wine that would have otherwise taken years to develop in the bottle.

This basically means that even a cheap bottle can greatly improve its taste and structure in a relatively short amount of time, compared to aging it. Older wines though are a different story as after about 10 years in the bottle they can develop some of those particulates that plagued wines in the days of old. In these cases decanting serves the same function as it did long ago.

So how does one decant a wine? Well, we should start by looking at decanting those older wines that may have some particulate build up. For this all you need is a bottle of your older wine, a decanter and a light source (a small candle will work well). You first start off by letting the bottle sit upright for a while, maybe an hour or so, to allow all the particulates in the bottle to settle at the bottom. Next you need to remove the whole capsule from the top so that you can see the entire neck of the bottle. Next place the candle next to the decanter right under where you will pour from and begin pouring. Do this in a slow and careful manner watching the wine through the neck of the bottle over the candle; this will allow you to see any particulates about to be poured. Immediately once you see particulates in the neck, stop pouring before they go into the decanter. You will have a little bit of wine left in the bottom of the bottle, but it is full of solid matter that you really don’t want to drink. The wine that made it into the decanter though is now suitably ready to be drunk.

Now for decanting a young wine, all you need is a bottle of young wine and a decanter (preferably one with a wide base to maximize aeration). You don’t need to worry about a light source and watching for particulates as it should have none being a young wine, unless it specifically states it’s unfiltered. So for this all you need to do is uncork the wine and begin to pour. For the best results you want to pour the wine so that it hits the inside wall near the top of the decanter and spreads apart as it goes in so that more wine is exposed to oxygen. Once the decanter is suitably filled to your liking all you need to do now is let it set for a while, maybe a half hour to an hour, for the glorious powers of aeration to take effect.

So if you don’t like waiting or don’t trust yourself with watching for particulates, what modern alternatives are there for decanting? For the removal of solid matter I have seen very few things, and even fewer that I think are as good as decanting. Probably the best of these is an apparatus you can buy that sits on top of your wine glass and basically has a filter on it. This is so that when you pour slowly into your glass it should catch most of the sediment. As for aeration, there is a never ending supply of gizmos.

One of my favourite is a simple nozzle like attachment that you put on the bottle that spreads the wine out as you pour, thus exposing it to more air. The second is a small apparatus that you hold over your glass and pour the wine slowly into it. As you do so it churns the wine and spreads it out into your glass. All of these will work, and can save you some time, but for my money a good old decanter is still best.

Decanting is probably one of the greatest additions to the wine culture that has enabled us to make our wines so much better than they would have been straight from the bottle. It has a long history of doing this and still has a place in our modern world full of oh so many wine lovers. Even with gadgets and gizmos that serve a similar purpose to decanting, in my opinion there is nothing that can ever replace it as it is so effective. Not only will it remove the solid matter from your wine but it will also make it taste and smell better than ever. And of course we can’t forget the fact that it also serves the purpose of being a great display piece to any wine evening with friends. So go out and get yourself a decanter and enjoy your new and improved wines for years to come.