The Why, What, When and How to Decant Wine.

Let’s start this one with the why as it’ll help explain the what, the when and the how.

THE WHY: There really are three reasons to decant a bottle of wine:

Number 1 … and by far the most important reason... it makes everything, most especially the wine, look significantly more impressive than it would do otherwise.?This might sound a bit fickle and please don’t start the judging yet because I promise you, if you were to ask any wine geek or sommelier worth half his, her or their salt to be really truthful, they’d agree.

Number 2 … and once again, a very important reason is because the wine needs to breath.??Showing a wine a bit of oxygen opens it up and allows it to show off all it’s wonderful potential.

Number 3 … and probably the rarest and least important reason … is because the wine has thrown a sediment.?The sediment is a by-product of the making and ageing process of almost all wines. Found in excess stems, seeds and skin particles, this collection of residue can taste awful. This is only really the case with more mature wines and with these you need to be quite careful.?

An older wine will react to oxygen much quicker and can easily be ruined if you’re not careful.?This is where decanting becomes a technique rather than a chore! Think of it like bellowing a fire...

THE WHAT: So we’ve conveniently arrived at the what and the answer is red wine and pretty much only youthful red wine with tannin and structure (so perhaps not a Pinot Noir).??It’s true to say that some white wines can also benefit from decanting but they certainly don’t tick our first reason on why we decant.?In fact, a decanter full of white wine looks a bit too much like a large hospital sample for my liking and I recommend avoiding.

THE WHEN:

So we’ve established that decanting is largely for our wine to look super impressive and to give it some oxygen.?We’re generally talking about youthful, robust red wines with a bit of tannin and a bit of structure that could do with loosening up. I’d recommend decanting these sorts of wines (Rhone reds, Rioja, Tuscan reds, Bordeaux, including grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah/Shiraz and Merlot) a good two hours before you plan to serve the wine.?In fact, just before Christmas we ran a series of online tastings for 300+ peeps featuring our delicious Valseranno Crianza Rioja 2017 from Bodegas de la Marquesa.?This wine developed incredibly over the course of one hour in the glass.?One thirsty taster confessed to opening his bottle the day beforehand and swore blind that it tasted twice as good having been open for 24 hours.?This is often the case with well made, well structured, traditional European reds.

A word of warning. Be very careful decanting older, more mature wines – Pinot Noir (especially Burgundy) that is over 10 years old and reds in general that are over 15 years old.?These wines have had contact with oxygen through their corks and giving them a real lungful in one hit can bring them up to dancing level extremely quickly and eject them to the stalls just as quickly afterwards.?I was lucky enough to once drink a 15 year old bottle of Premier Cru Gevrey Chambertin by a wonderful grower, Domaine Fourrier.?It was dumb as a dodo for 15 minutes after opening, danced like Fred Astaire for 20 minutes then sat there like a sloth for the last twenty minutes – it died.

The HOW: This really is very simple.?The answer is gently.?If you’re a fancy sommelier then get your candle out but really the key is to stand the wine for a few hours before decanting (just in case it has thrown a sediment) then tip it in one smooth movement in to the decanter leaving a little wine in the bottom of the bottle (again, just in case it has thrown a sediment).