Why You Should Decant Your Wine

Are you a wine drinker?  I define a wine drinker as someone who has one to two cups of wine each night, mainly with dinner or just sitting out watching television.  Well, if you drink this much wine per week you really need to start decanting to get the full flavor of your wine.  Just think.  If you are paying anywhere between $30 and $50 dollars per bottle of wine, wouldn't you want to get the full flavor of your wine and not waste the $50 dollars.

At one time decanting was the only way to drink wine.  Before filtration, wine came with a lot of settlement.  This was because of the process when the wine was bottled.  The wine was not filtered.  Also, most wine came from barrels that were locked in the cellars.  The wine could not very well be served straight from the barrels.  So, decanters were a way to present the wine.

Decanters were also used so that patrons could look at the wine to see how much settlement was in the wine.  If the wine had too much settlement they would have to filter the wine on their own.  The more they filtered it the better clarity the wine had, but also a byproduct came from this.  They found that as the wine was able to breathe it started to taste a lot better.

Today, wine makers continuously filter their wines before bottling.  Thus, you will not see settlement at the bottom of bottles.  But there is still the need to bring out the flavor in wine when it is first opened.  It is recommended to decanter your wine and let it sit for approx 6 hours.  So, if you plan to have wine for your dinner it is a good idea to open the wine in the morning, decanter it and let it sit for the dinner.  You will see a difference in the taste and aroma of your wine by the evening.

So which wines are perfect for decanting?  Red aged wines are perfect for decanting.  Red wines that age for 10 years or more even after the filtration process may have some sediment in the bottle, most of the time this cannot be avoided.  It is just a byproduct of the grape being aged.  This settlement may be distasteful straight from the bottle.  Decanting the wine will bring out the flavor that has been lost from the aging process.  Young wines are also great candidates for decanting.  Young wines can be bitter straight out of the bottle.  The decanting process provides a large surface area for the wine to come into contact with the air.  This softens the wine's bite and encourages the development of a more complex aroma that is normally gained through years in the bottle.

So, remember decanting is not out the window.  It is fun and should be used for all of your wine.  If you truely want a great tasting wine then you want to decant as often as possible.