Decant one and all, young and old!
By Joann Farrell Quinn, Due Cani Cellars posted on Friday, May 1, 2009 @ 1:20 PM - (General)
For most people, a
decanter is something that they are given as a gift or purchase because it is
attractive and they believe that it makes serving their wine more
sophisticated. But, a decanter is more than a thing of beauty, it is functional
and serves two important purposes in serving wine, and when it is used properly
it will improve your wine experience.
A decanter allows a young wine to breathe, which if you are like me and you
cannot wait to enjoy some of the younger wines that would benefit from some
aging, allows the wine to relax a bit from its uptight state in the bottle. Try
it at home. Purchase a young wine, perhaps the 2007 Due Cani Cellars Hayley Vineyard
Pinot Noir, for instance (unabashed promotion- that is my wine), open the
bottle and pour a small taste into a glass. Next, pour half of the wine into a
decanter and leave the remainder in the bottle. Over the next three hours or
so, try the wine from the decanter and the bottle and you will see the
evolution of the wine, and how much more subtle and refined the decanted wine
becomes due to the exposure to that much more air than it is exposed to via the
small neck of the bottle.
The second important function of a decanter is in removing sediment from an
older wine. If you have ordered wine at a fine restaurant with a sommelier and
had that person decant the wine at your table while holding a candle under the
neck of the bottle during pouring, you have seen this in action.
To do this at home, place the bottle in an upright position for an few hours
before you plan to open it, to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom.
Then, open the bottle, wipe the neck and slowly (really, I mean slowly) pour
the wine into the decanter while holding the bottle at just about a horizontal
angle. Watch as you pour, and ensure that you stop pouring before any of the
sediment ends up in the decanter.
I should also note that some young wines can also have sediment, which occurs
with some higher quality, unfiltered wines. Actually, we do not filter our
Pinot Noir, and our wine has a moderate amount of sediment. I recommend that
everyone decant our wine at this point, as they are still so young, and this
also allows for removal of the sediment- so you are accomplishing two goals
with decanting in this case!
Another important thing to keep in mind regarding decanting- do not decant
older wines and allow them to sit out and artificially age any further. This is
likely to ruin the wine if it is an older wine that has been aged properly and
is ready to drink. With older wines decant right before serving.
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