Demystifying how, why to decant wine

Last month, we noted Winemaker Archaval Ferrer recommended decanting his 2012 wine. We received several questions about this. Why decant wine? Do you need to decant young wines?

Decanting seems to be a confusing issue. We’ll try to demystify it as best we can.

Decanting wine means moving the wine from one container to another, from the wine bottle into another vessel. You can pour it into a fancy carafe, but you don’t need to. Just about any container will work.

Why do this? Many red wines and a few white wines benefit from aeration, exposing the wine to air. Young red tannic wines usually taste better as the wine absorbs oxygen, which helps to soften harsh tannins. The younger and more tannic a wine, the more “breathing” time it’ll need.

You’ve heard the expression “wine needs to breathe.” Just opening the bottle and exposing it to air through the dime-size opening isn’t going to do much. Sometimes you want it to do more than just breathe, you want it to hyperventilate. There are all kinds of fancy devices for this, or you can go low-tech and use a kitchen funnel. Pour the wine back into the bottle and then back into the carafe.

During dinner at Luciano’s restaurant in Charlotte, they brought the most elaborate decanting device to the table we’ve ever seen. It was imported from Italy. It passed the wine through air at least three times from top to bottom. It worked great and put on a good show at the same time.

Here’s a tip: If you’re going to Luciano’s, go on a Wednesday when wine is half price.

Wine contains esters, which are chemical compounds produced as the wine is made. Exposing the wine to air helps release these esters, which will influence and enhance aromas and bouquet. Some young wines, such as a red Zinfandel, will really come alive with aeration. We had an agile, well-coordinated waiter in Sonoma who poured Zinfandel from a height of at least 3 feet above the carafe. He then poured a small amount of wine into each balloon glass, held it vertically, and rolled each glass as it coated the inside. You could smell the aroma across the room.

Another reason to decant wine is to ensure clarity in older red wines. You probably won’t run into this problem too often as many wines today are well filtered. Older, unfiltered red wines can develop sediment. If you want to make sure it’s as free of sediment, dark floating particles, as possible, stand the bottle upright for at least a day. This will allow sediment to sink to the bottom. Then slowly pour the wine into a container. You’ll need to illuminate the neck of the bottle so you can ensure none of the sediment goes into the container. For this you can use a candle. This will really impress your guests, but a flashlight standing on end will actually do a better job. A very important issue here is the age and condition of the wine. Not all wines improve with age. Wines eventually get to a point on the maturity curve where the flavors start to diminish. These older wines don’t need much air. The color of the wine can give you a clue to its condition. If it’s a dark inky color, you’re probably in good shape. If it’s starting to pale or has a red brick color with touches of brown around the edges, it’s in old age and you’ll need to be gentle with it.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Demystifying how, why to decant wine."