Decant / De-can’t, When Do You Pour Yours? Pouring wine from a bottle into another serving vessel, to remove sediment or aid oxygenation, should be as simple as – well – drinking a glass of wine. Instead, wine lovers seem to have packed so much mystery, ceremony, and complication around decanting that it has become one of wine’s most debated and controversial subtopics.
Pouring wine from a bottle into another serving vessel, to remove sediment or aid oxygenation, should be as simple as – well – drinking a glass of wine. Instead, wine lovers seem to have packed so much mystery, ceremony, and complication around decanting that it has become one of wine’s most debated and controversial subtopics.
We put three simple questions about decanting to some of our team members to shed some light on the subject and share some of our ideas on how and when to bring out the cut crystal claret jug.
Jacky Chan, Country Manager, Vinum Taiwan
Is there a style or category of wine you ALWAYS decant?
In general, I always decant red wines that are high in tannins, for example, Northern Rhones. I always decant post-2000 Bordeaux and some from the 90’s Bordeaux – mostly left bank as I rarely decant right bank Bordeaux. Yes for young white Burgundy especially 2010, 2014, and 2020. Aerating powerful white Burgundy by decanting can be helpful as long as you keep an eye on the temperature. I also decant some young vintage champagne eg: 2008 Cristal, 2008 Dom Perignon, and all young Salon. I always noticed young Salon takes more time to open up.
What do you NEVER decant?
I tend to avoid decanting particularly old bottles that are delicate and naturally low in tannins, like red Burgundy.
What’s the last bottle you decanted?
2019 Beausejour Becot ordered from a restaurant list over lunch. The wine opened up nicely throughout the meal and is drinking beautifully now – Beautiful floral aromas with plums, lovely red cherry, and sweet tannins.
Is there a style or category of wine you ALWAYS decant?
I guess the immediate or obvious answer would be Bordeaux or Vintage Port. Either old, to remove sediment, or young, to get plenty of air into it. I’m not going down the obvious route, though. Instead, I find myself decanting whites more and more. I think almost all serious Chardonnay wines really benefit from 90 minutes or so in a carafe, and the same goes for Riesling. Chenin Blanc is the same, especially the best from the Loire Valley, and I’ve even started decanting white Bordeaux like Les Champs Libres.
What do you NEVER decant?
Red Burgundy. Unless I think there’s a danger of sediment clouding the wine, I’ve almost entirely given up decanting red Burgs (or any other styles of Pinot, to be honest). Exposure to oxygen seems to make the young wines close up on themselves and become much less expressive. Simply pulling the cork and leaving the bottle open for a couple of hours is a much more reliable and gentle way to ‘wake up’ a good Burgundy – you can Google ’The Audouze Method’ or click here. With older wines, I much prefer following the evolution of a wine from the bottle as it takes on more air.
What’s the last bottle you decanted?
A Chablis 1er Cru Les Sechets 2018 from Dauvissat. I took this to dinner the other night. To my mind, Dauvissat needs more age than almost any other Chablis and can show very surly, disjointed, and grumpy when opened too young. By this logic, 2018 is still too young but it’s also a ripe and quite forward year so I decided to test drive a bottle. Decanting transformed this and, with air, it seemed to tighten up, gain focus and detail. The air it gained from decanting also helped to compensate for the 2018’s youth. I’m a definite convert!
Is there a style or category of wine you ALWAYS decant?
For me, it is more of a feeling about the wine than any hard and fast rule. Wines that I know are a little on the youthful side, young Napa, not-quite-yet-drinking Bordeaux, nascent Burgundy, I’d probably decant. Vintage Port too just for removing the sediment. I subscribe to the Antonio Galloni school of thought and decant a lot less than I used to, and a lot of the time will just pop open the cork for a few hours rather than decant the whole bottle.
What do you NEVER decant?
Mature wines. I think there is too much danger that the precious aromatics, preserved for all those years, will just disappear into the ether. To counteract sediment, I’d stand the bottle upright for as long as possible before opening, but would pop-and-pour anything firmly in or beyond middle age.
What’s the last bottle you decanted?
A bottle of 2017 Quinta do Noval. I bought a case on release (my wedding year) and wanted to see how it was getting on. It was much more open than one might expect for a young vintage, but then we are in an era of approachable-when-young when it comes to Vintage Port. I’m sure the decanting helped to open this out, both on the palate and aromatically compared to pop-and-pour, and over the course of an evening allowed an insight into just how wonderful this wine will be when fully mature. Thinking of an answer to this question made me realize that I decant at home a lot less frequently than I used to!
Is there a style or category of wine you ALWAYS decant?
Yes! I always decant reds from Bordeaux. This removes the sediment from mature bottles, and also lets the wine ‘breathe.” For younger vintages, decanting really helps the wines to open up. I also decant New World Chardonnay and young white Burgundies. Again, it helps these wines wake up and display themselves to their best advantage.
What do you NEVER decant?
I never decant Beaujolais as they tend to be light-bodied in style and rarely throw sediment. In fact, I often lightly chill Gamay, helping them taste fresh and lively.
What’s the last bottle you decanted?
1996 Leoville Las Cases. I took this bottle to a dinner with some current and former wine trade friends. It was decanted about a couple of hours before we started to drink it – delicious of course!! Beautifully concentrated and pure, it continued to improve in the glass.
Is there a style or category of wine you ALWAYS decant?
Yes – Young; less than five years old, fine, or elite whites and reds from the New or Old Worlds, or if older than a decade:
What do you NEVER decant?
What’s the last bottle(s) you decanted?
I double decanted these about 2-3 hours prior to serving. (Back into the original bottle; after separating the light sediments).
For an aged red suspected of having deposited sediment, I would normally stand the bottle upright at least 24 hours; regardless of either decanting or serving it.
