To Decant or Not to Decant…

First off, it’s helpful to note that decanters and carafes are slightly different. Whilst carafes are visually impressive, enable a different size measure to be served (e.g. 500ml), make pouring wine more theatrical as well as easier, in comparison, decanters have a couple of key purposes:

• They help to separate out the sediment.
• They help to aerate the wine to enhance the flavours – in other words, let the wine breathe.

So, whilst every wine can be served in a carafe, not every wine needs, or benefits from, decanting.

Wines that have been aged in bottle can be a bit tight, like being couped up for too long and they need aeration to open up and release the flavours and aromas. Young red wines also benefit from decanting because aeration makes them smoother, rounder and softens the tannins. You may see people swirling their glass of wine before taking a sip, this is in essence doing a similar job, getting oxygen into the wine to release those aromas and flavours. Decanting a wine essentially does that prior to serving, with the aim that once served, the wine has perfectly ‘opened up’ and is showing at its best.

Most wines will benefit from decanting although there are a few exceptions and things to note:

• Sparkling wines don’t need decanting because they’ll quickly lose their bubbles.
• Old wines under cork will have slowly aged in bottle and fully matured over many years and become more delicate, meaning they will oxidise quickly once opened. If decanting mature wines, aim to limit to 20 minutes or just gently serve straight from the bottle to keep the sediment out of the glass.
• Young, zesty, aromatic styles are better served from the bottle; if decanted, they can lose their lovely vibrant and zesty aromas.

Wine doesn’t need decanting for more than 2 hours. A general rule of thumb is that light-bodied reds (e.g. Pinot Noir, Gamay) only need 20-30 minutes. Medium-bodied reds (e.g. Merlot, Cabernet Franc) need about 30-60 minutes. And full-bodied reds (e.g. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon) take 1-2 hours. For decanting whites and rosé, 20 or 30 minutes is more than enough, and to be honest, pouring the wine and letting it stand in the glass for 10 minutes or swirling the wine in your glass would do the same job. So, for most whites and rosé, a decanter isn’t necessary.
 

Rachel Hart

Regional Account Manager 

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