Decanting wine - how and why?

[longers]

Just found a bottle of red under the stairs here that recommends decanting before serving and might give it a go tomorrow but am not sure of the best way to do it or why it's done?

Is it to let it breathe better or to try and get rid of sediments? Don't know anything about the wine so don't know if it's got sediment or not until it's opened I suppose.

Haven't a glass jug or decanter to put it into but have a large enough pottery jug - will that do?

 

[alecstilleyedye]

to get rid of sediment, yes.

tbh you can just pour from the bottle; over a flame will help spot the sediment.

 

[oldfatfool]

Doesn't matter what you decant into so long as it is clean and inert (ie won't impart any flavor to the wine).
]
Depending on the wine it should be decanted upto around 24 hrs prior to drinking.

If there is sediment in the wine then best to decant through a fine sieve.

Yes the idea is to allow the wine to circulate and airate, a spiral flute might be used to achieve this when decanting and also to stop the wine 'bruising' falling from a height into the decanter. I tend to pour wine onto an inverted spoon inside the decanters neck directing the wine down the inside of the glass.

Even decanting a bottle of £4.99 Tesco special an hour before drinking can significantly improve it.

 

[fossyant]

I decant it down my neck. Lol.

 

[Brains]

just make sure you run it through a sieve.
A coffee pot (that has never had coffee in it) usually makes a perfect claret jug

 

[srw]

Don't bother with a sieve - just use a steady arm and a careful eye. The dregs and the sediment make excellent gravy.

The idea is that you (a) get rid of any sediment, and (b) oxidise the tannins so that they taste less harsh.

 

[Aperitif]

Strain it through a coffee filter paper, into the jug if you have one, Mark. Otherwise, stand it upright and allow all the floating crap to fall to the bottom of the bottle? Another move would be to have something else open that you know is ok to quaff - 'just in case'.

 

[Andy in Sig]

If it's a wine that throws a lot of fine lees, like a vintage port, then let it stand for 36-48 hrs before decanting carefully. If it throws relatively coarse lees like e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape, then about 12 hrs should do.

I'd decant for no more than an hour before drinking, fine wines in certain conditions will tend to oxidise too much if left for longer periods. The point of decanting is to get the wine away from the lees and to aerate it a bit in order to let the flavour develop fully.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

If it's a wine that throws a lot of fine lees, like a vintage port, then let it stand for 36-48 hrs before decanting carefully. If it throws relatively coarse lees like e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape, then about 12 hrs should do.

I'd decant for no more than an hour before drinking, fine wines in certain conditions will tend to oxidise too much if left for longer periods. The point of decanting is to get the wine away from the lees and to aerate it a bit in order to let the flavour develop fully.

Absolutely right. Decant it as late as possible. Pouring aerates it anyway, and you can always swill it round your glass.

 

[oldfatfool]

Absolutely right. Decant it as late as possible. Pouring aerates it anyway, and you can always swill it round your glass.

Depends totally on the wine, I have a 2006 Barolo that really needs at least 6 hours and will continue to improve if decanted upto 24 hours prior to serving.

 

[Ashtrayhead]

All the info and lingo you need..........

http://snobsite.com/wine_explained.php

 

[PBancroft]

Hm. I drink a fair amount of the red stuff, and the wine jug only comes out for parties. I'm not being snobby, I just drink too much. But even a fair few posh restaurants pour straight from the bottle.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Depends totally on the wine, I have a 2006 Barolo that really needs at least 6 hours and will continue to improve if decanted upto 24 hours prior to serving.

There will always be the odd exception. I suggest that your Barolo could do with a couple more years in the bottle. In my experience (which is by no means encyclopaedic) no wine should need that long in the decanter if it is ready for drinking.

This is from Jancis Robinson in The Oxford Companion to Wine:

Another, traditional but disputed, reason for decanting is to promote aeration and therefore encourage development of the wine's bouquet. Authorities as scientifically respectable as Professor Emile Peynaud argue that this is oenologically indefensible: that the action of oxygen dissolved in a sound wine is usually detrimental and that the longer it is prolonged - i.e. the longer before serving a wine is decanted - the more diffuse its aroma and the less marked its sensory attributes. His advice is to decant only wines with a sediment and then only just before serving.

... It is certainly wise advice to decant fully mature wines only just before serving since some are so fragile that they can withstand oxygen for only a few minutes before succumbing to oxidation. And it is also true that the aeration process of an individual glass of wine can be controlled by the person drinking out of it - and that there are certain types of wines, Barolo most obviously which may not have been included in Prof Peynaud's experiments with decanting regimes, which can be so concentrated and tannic in youth that to lose some of their initial sensory impressions is a positive benefit.

I would add one thing of my own to the advice of the Prof and Ms Robinson: some whites seem to benefit some "big" white wines. If you chill a bottle down and then take about half a glass, then bung it back in the fridge for a while, the flavours do seem to improve. I think this might be because the wine has a chance to lose some of the sulphur which growers put into it.

 

[dellzeqq]

[QUOTE 1654898, member: 45"]You bunch of southern cissies. Unscrew the cap, put it to your lips, tip the bottle up and glug away.[/quote]
before or after you've cleaned the brushes with it?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

decant it into a jug, by eye or using a filter/strainer as desired, rinse the original bottle to remove the grollies, allow to dry, return wine to original bottle, serve. Plenty of the better sort of modern sommelier will do this.