Ever Wonder? Should You Decant a Sparkling Wine?

Decanting red wines is somewhat common. Decanting a white wine is less common. But, decanting a sparkling wine? Really?

The answer is again, Yes!

Decanting a sparkling wine may seem a bit unorthodox and even counter-intuitive, but a sparkling wine can actually benefit from decanting.

Before today’s practice of riddling or remuage, Champagnes were decanted in order to leave as much yeast used in the second fermentation (the one that creates the bubbles) behind in the bottle. Otherwise, you’d be pouring cloudy Champagne into a glass. And, nobody wants cloudy Champagne.

Decanting a sparkling wine can also be done to tame the bubbles. Sometimes, the sparkling wine may be extra bubbly, or the consumer may not enjoy a super-bubbly wine. So, decanting can help reduce the level of carbonation so that the drinker can focus more on the flavors than the texture.

To decant a sparkling wine, slowly transfer of the wine to the decanter by pouring down the side instead of directly in to the center of the decanter. Then, give it a short bit of time - 15 to 30 minutes max. It’s then ready to serve!

So, next time you open a bottle of sparkling wine, try decanting it and see what you think. It just may become a habit! Cheers!

Ever Wonder? Should You Decant a White Wine?

When one thinks about decanting a wine, usually it’s a red wine. Decanting a red wine is generally done for several reasons including allowing any trapped off-smelling odors to quickly dissipate, allowing the wine to “open up” to reveal greater character and to help soften its tannin. But, decanting a white wine? Should it be done? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Just like red wines, white wines too can have off-odors and the simple act of pouring the wine into a decanter will quickly deal with those issues.

White wines are generally released to market earlier than red wines. But, this can result in a white wine being “closed” in its aromas and flavors. Again, simply pouring it into a decanter can quickly help to “open up” the wine so as to allow for greater aromas and flavors.

Another benefit of decanting a white wine is for temperature control. If the white wine has been stored in a standard refrigerator, it’s a bit too cold to be able to release its aromas and exhibit all of its flavors. So, pouring a white wine into a decanter will allow it to quickly come to the ideal drinking temperature of 45 to 55 degrees F. Also, if the wine is room temperature and you’d like to quickly put a slight chill on it, you’ll find that the thinner walls of a decanter will allow the wine to more quickly chill in a large bucket of ice or in the fridge.

While decanting a red wine can take 1 to 2 hours, decanting a white wine is quick — 15 minutes or less will generally do the job.

There is one caution regarding decanting white wine. If you pull the cork and discover that your white wine has oxidized (e.g., has changed to a dark golden color with some orange or brown color notes) decanting won’t help. It’s already seen too much oxygen in the bottle and giving it further oxygen will only make it worse.

Next time we’ll look at decanting sparkling wines. Yes, even sparkling wines can benefit from decanting! Until then, Cheers!

Ever Wonder? What's the Best Type of Decanter for Wine?

A decanter is a great vessel to allow a wine to breathe.  And, really any container will help a wine breathe. But, all too often, the decanter ends up looking like the one pictured here. This is a beautiful carafe and it's a great addition to a bar or table for serving wine. Unfortunately, it's a bit too narrow. It doesn't give the wine enough room to truly breathe. But, compared to leaving the wine cooped-up in an un-corked bottle, this type of decanter is a definite improvement. Not only does it give the wine a bit more space, it also allows the wine to catch a bit of a breath as it's being poured from the bottle to the decanter.

But to really give a bottle of wine a chance to breathe, you'll need some type of decanter that allows the wine to spread out and have a lot of surface area in contact with air.  The wide-base decanter pictured here is a great example. And, it's designed such that a single bottle of wine just fills the bottom and allows for the maximum amount of the wine's surface area to be exposed to air.

So, next time you open a bottle of wine and think it needs some time to breathe, pour it into a decanter, or really any vessel, that provides a large surface area for the wine to be in contact with air. And, after an hour or two, the wine should smooth out and be more enjoyable. Cheers!

Ever Wonder? Does a Wine Need to Breathe Before Being Served?

You may have heard about pulling the cork on a bottle of wine and “letting it breathe.” Those that follow this practice may give the un-corked bottle thirty minutes to an hour before declaring that “the wine is now ready to drink!”

While pulling the cork does allow air to enter the bottle, it is only filling the top-most part of the neck of the bottle with air and exposing the wine’s surface area equivalent to the size of a dime to the air.

Pulling the cork and leaving the opened bottle exposed to air will affect the wine over a long period of time (days to weeks). But, to really allow a bottle of wine to “breathe” before serving, the wine needs even greater exposure to air.

Exposing a wine to air, even briefly, while pouring it into a glass can help. But, wines will typically need more.

Why is this? Well, although wine is produced just from the juice of grapes and yeast, the chemistry that goes on during the fermentation process can yield a few undesirable bi-products. One of these bi-products is hydrogen sulfide that can smell of rotten eggs when sampling the wine’s aroma.

So, when you transfer wine from its bottle to another vessel (e.g., a decanter), the first process that kicks-in is evaporation. Not evaporation of the wine, per se, but evaporation of highly volatile components that are in the wine from the natural winemaking process. The second process that begins is oxidation. This short-term exposure of a wine to oxygen can be beneficial. Oxidation and evaporation both help to smooth out a wine’s rough edges and make them taste more balanced and expressive.

Thirty minutes to an hour in a decanter can help release these volatile compounds. But, you probably don’t want to exceed two to three hours of decanting in order to keep your wine’s flavors from actually becoming deadened.

In order to find the peak flavor of the wine after you have opened a bottle, you need to taste it immediately after you open it to establish a baseline. This understanding of where the wine started will help you determine when the evaporation and oxidation processes have peaked the wine’s flavors — it’ll just taste better and have a smoother mouth-feel.

Highly tannic and full-bodied wines benefit most from this – wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet blends, Syrah, and Syrah blends.

While this discussion is meant mostly for red wines and maybe a few aged white wines, most everyday young white wines do not need any exposure to air before consuming.

Do you need a fancy, expensive decanter to get all these benefits? No. So, next time we’ll look at different types of decanters and ways to best decant a wine. Cheers!

Wine: Decanting versus Aerating?

While catching up on some recent reading, I came across an article looking at wine decanting versus aerating. The bottom line presented in the article was that older wines should be decanted and young wines should be aerated. This caused me to pause.

Both of these methods allow a wine to have further exposure to oxygen that typically helps a wine to release any undesirable odors and, more importantly, to help soften the tannins in a red wine.

But, what caused my pause is that older red wines typically have softer tannins just from the aging process. And, an older wine is usually a bit more delicate and can quickly loose its character, or go flabby, if decanted.

Young red wines often have bigger, bolder tannin and benefit the most from decanting. Sometimes for hours.

So, my advice would be a bit different than the article. If you are dealing with a young red wine whose tannins are too bold, I’d recommend pouring it into a decanter. Then, re-sample periodically. Usually after an hour or two, the decanting process has calmed the tannins and you’ll find a noticeable positive difference.

If you are dealing with an older bottle of red wine, I’d recommend trying it immediately out of the bottle. If you detect something odd or the tannins are still too bold, then pour it into a decanter (being especially careful to avoid pouring any sediment into the decanter) and give it 10 to 15 minutes. Then, re-try the wine.

As for an aerator, they are fun pouring accessories, and they do add a bit of oxygen to the wine during the pouring process. But, for really giving a wine some breathing space, give it some time in a broad-based decanter. Cheers!