re: FB's Wine Corner: Bordeaux discussion

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As a person who doesn't drink a lot of wine, doesn't know much on wine but generally enjoys wine, primarily reds, can you explain decanting for me? From what I know, it sort of aerates the wine, though I do it understand why that would be good. I have a decanter that I think I got as a wedding present and maybe used once. Would doing that to a $20 bottle be worth it, especially if I don't plan to drink the entire bottle?

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Decanting has two purposes: oxygenation and separating sediment.

Most older wines will collect sediment, so if you know what you’re doing you can separate the sediment in the decanting process, or use a decanter with a mesh sieve.

But the more useful info for you is oxygenation.

When you see someone swirl a glass of wine? That’s what that is. They are aerating it to introduce oxygen to the wine.

Decanting introduces oxygen to wines that are tighter, young, or have a lot of tannins. You can tell if it a wine is tannic by that feeling that the wine is sucking all of the moisture out of your mouth (or bitterness).

Unfortunately there are no hard and fast rules for decanting. A very old wine (40 years old) you don’t need to decant for long or at all besides the sediment.

A wine with a lot of tannins, think Cabernet or Tempranillo, so Bordeaux or Rioja or Napa that is less than 10 years old hasn’t aged long enough in the bottle and might be very “tight”. Allowing oxygen to get to it allows those tannins to soften and for it to open up.

Does your 20 dollar bottle need it? Probably not most of the time. 90% of wines are mean to be drunk NOW and not bottle aged. They are designed to be drank young.

Could it hurt if it’s a wine like those I mentioned? No.

Experiment. Decant it. Drink a pour immediately. Drink another in 30 minutes. Then another 30 minutes or an hour.