Why decant a wine?

Two quite different reasons can lead us to take a jug of wine:

• To aerate a young wine that appears at its best, this is called aeration
• Decant a wine aged to separate the wine from its eventual filing, it is called decanting (or settling).

The modus operandi will not be the same in either case and pitchers to use will not be the same. Speaking of “decant a young wine is something of a misnomer.


The aeration of wine

The passage of a wine decanter rather young will have several effects:

• It will awaken the aromas, the wine will seem to be more open, it is better to engage,
• It will harmonize the whole and give the impression of tannins rounder,
• It will leave any faint odor reduction (actually quite unpleasant odors due to containment of wine).

What should I aerate wines?

In theory, a mature wine will not really need to be ventilated. However, before it is mature, a decanter will allow passage, not to win a few years of aging, but to overcome some disadvantages of youth in him to match somewhat.

So all the young wines, whether red or white, will draw part of decanting. More material is denser, more tannic structure is present and aeration will be beneficial. Some wines, however, can react badly to aeration, include our wines Unsulphured susceptible to oxidation. On the other hand, the carafe of Burgundy is a difficult subject …

The case of wine older than 10 years and older, is more delicate and should be treated on a case by case basis. Some will benefit from aeration, some not, some even collapse. The phenomenon of reducing further complicates the situation and increase the case. Unless we know in advance that the matter will be further particularly present, it is probably more prudent not to decant in advance and monitor developments during meals.

Be aware that some tasters finally consider aerating wine (young or old) as useless or even harmful. This proves, once again, the tasting is far from an exact science.

How to decant a wine to aerate?

The decanting a young wine is easy: just pour. In general, it will slide along the wine wall but you can choose a more brutal if the wine is particularly robust or massive, or if time is short decanting.

The important thing is to let the wine rest … then some time. Generally, one hour is suitable for most cases. We extend to three or four hours on wines denser and / or very young and may be considered 6-8 hours as a minimum for wine type monsters of the New World (wine tasting pure alcohol wines massive enough) .

The shapes of decanters are many and varied but a relatively new mode puts the decanters broad and flat front. It is regrettable if these pitchers can at best be suitable for wine-type monster tasting “real wine gourmet delight for those who we feel comfortable at the table, is much more emphasized in a bottle closer.

The presence or absence of a cork on a bottle is of little importance, unless you place your jug outside (the wind tends to send out the flavors). On the other hand, the pitchers who make wine without making a drop can be counted on the fingers, alas hand. For others, only extraordinary dexterity allows them to avoid.

If you do not have a decanter, you should also know that simply pouring in another bottle achieves the same beneficial effects: the cooling effect occurs mainly at the time of transfer. It is even possible to transfer a second to put the wine in its original bottle. The other bottle must be clearly understood perfectly clean and the waiting time should be doubled or tripled if the wine is at the neck. If we return the cap, the transfer may even be 12 or 24 hours before tasting.

Once decanted done, please to place the carafe in place at the right temperature. The problem is especially difficult for white wines. The small decanters have the advantage to be placed in a refrigerator or ice bucket. Otherwise, use the method of transfer into another bottle.

Keep the bottle just uncorked (without transfer) for a while does not replace a pitcher passage: the surface in contact with the outside air is too small and especially there was no aeration of the wine. This avoids the problems of reduction and nothing more. If you sample a little wine, the contact area is then increased but the effect has nothing to do with decanting.

Lately, many gadgets appear to seek to replace the carafe. Most often, they are placed directly on the neck of the bottle to make just before pouring the wine into the glass. I admire the inventiveness of the creators but these inventions focus too much on single aeration. The carafe is a slight cooling followed by a rest period. These gadgets offer us a significant cooling and eliminate the rest period. This is not really possible to achieve the same result. You can also test yourself by violently shaking your glass (not without forgetting to close it with the palm of the hand) or by shaking a bottle almost full. You will see a change, often fleeting, due to the rude awakening but you will never have harmony achieved after a carafe.

To close the subject, finally aware that the words “decant” and “decanting” are not yet recognized as part of the French language. But we can hope that this will soon be the case, as these two words are commonly used both by amateurs and by professionals.