What Does it Mean to Decant or Aerate Wine?
Decanting
When you decant a wine, you will pour the wine into a bottle that will usually have a very large base that spreads the wine across a thin layer or will have many curves. The bottles with a large flat bottom spread the wine giving it a larger surface area so that the wine can sit and be exposed to the air. Wine decanters can also be designed with lots of twists or turns in the decanter. This style causes the wine to move around a lot while pouring the wine in and out of the decanter. This movement also aerates the wine.
Aerating
Aerators are designed with the same goal as a decanter, but they tend to speed up the process. With an Aerator, the wine doesn’t need time to interact with the air like a decanter. Instead, with an aerator you pour your wine straight into the device, it is usually then fed through multiple tiny holes, which force the wine into multiple thin streams increasing the surface area so that the wine rapidly aerates. Then the wine will usually pour right out the device fully aerated.
How Decanting Affects The Wine
Removal of Sediment
If you have an exceptionally old bottle of wine, you may notice sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Decanters help separate this sediment. When you go to pour the bottle, you first pour it into a decanter removing the top 90% of sediment-free wine into the decanter and leaving the last bit, which has the sediment left into the bottle. This way, when it reaches the table, you don’t have to worry about the bottle accidentally being shaken, redispersing the sediment. You just bring the fresh, clean wine in the decanter.
Removal of Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide is the main preservative agent used in wines. In the first fermentation process, this carbon dioxide becomes part of the wine. By letting it aerate, you remove the carbon dioxide and allow the wine to rapidly age.
So Should You Decant Your Wine?
What The Advocates Say
Advocates of decanting wine will say that by decanting a wine, you are essentially rapidly aging it. Decanting an old wine will remove the sediment from the liquid so that you get a clean wine and decanting a young wine will allow it to aerate. This aeration brings out the fruit flavors of your wine while muddling the bitter tannins, opening up the bouquet, and allowing you to get a better sense of the rich complexities in both aroma and taste.
What The Opponents Say
Everyone agrees that wine needs to breathe. There is no question that allowing wine to reach the air will increase flavors and decrease more potent tannins. Why some people oppose decanting a wine is because as a wine interacts with the air it begins to “mature,” and this maturation process brings the wine through multiple stages in both taste and aroma. By decanting some people believe that you don’t get to enjoy all of these stages the same way that you do by simply swirling the wine in your glass and allowing it to open up and age in your glass.
How to Decant Your Wine
Without a Proper Decanter
In The Bottle
If you are trying to decant wine while it sits in the bottle, then you should open up the bottle 8 to 10 hours before serving it. This way requires so much longer because the bottle is narrow with a very small opening, so the small surface area means that it does get very much contact with the air. Therefore it needs much longer to properly age.
In The Glass
You can decant wine in your glass simply by swirling it. This aerates the wine and will slowly open up the bouquet and mature the wine as you drink.
With a Proper Decanter
Young Wines (10 Years or Younger)
A young wine includes any wine, red or white, that is younger than ten years of age. If this is your wine, then you don’t need to worry about sediment separation. Your concern is aerating and aging the wine. Tip the bottle upside down and let the wine quickly run out into the decanter. This fast release will cause the wine to splash and create waves in the decanter. This just serves to further aerate the wine before it sits in the decanter.
Old Wines (10+ Years of Age)
An old wine includes any wine, red or white, that is ten years of age or older. If this is your wine then you don’t really need to worry about aeration, your wine has already naturally aged and matured.
Your main concern is sediment that has separated from and settled in the bottle of your bottle. If this is the case, then it is best too take a light and shine it into the bottle. This allows you to see the sediment inside the bottle.
Then you slowly and gently pour the wine into the decanter. As you do this, you continue to hold the light to the bottle so that you know exactly when to stop. You want to stop right at the point where the fresh, clean wine at the top of the bottle has been poured out, and the wine with sediment is now about to pour out as well.
Once you reach that point, stop pouring and allow the bottle to sit away from the table with the remaining sediment-filled wine inside of it. Now your wine is decanted and can be safely served from the decanter without having to worry about accidentally drinking or serving wine with sediment.
With an Aerator
If you have an aerator, you can simply pour the wine into the aerator. Allow the device to work its magic, and as it pours out the other end, you can gather it into a decanter to serve from, or you can allow it to drain directly into your glass. This is the speedy version of decanting, and your wine comes out ready to drink.
Different Types of Decanting
“Shock Decanting”
Shock Decanting refers to the method of filling a bottle with a younger wine that your sure doesn’t have sediment. When using this method, you tip the bottle upside down and allow the wine to gravity feed into the decanter.
Since gravity pulls the wine out of the bottle very quickly, it causes it to splash and cause waves inside of the decanter. This causes extra aeration and means that your wine should only need about 15 to 20 minutes in the decanter before being ready to drink.
Regular Decanting
Regular decanting refers to how you would see the wine poured into the decanter at a nice social event or dinner. Since you want to make sure that the wine isn’t splashing at the table, you tip the bottle and slowly pour the wine into the decanter allowing it to flow down the sides where it will gently settle at the bottom of the decanter.
With this process, the wine is going to need more time because it now has to slowly interact with the air. This process is hard to gauge since it has to do not only with the wine but also with the style of the decanter.
Naturally, a wider decanter gives the wine more surface area to interact with the air while allowing that same wine to age faster than if it were in a smaller decanter. But that being said, there are some general guidelines that you can follow when decanting your next bottle.
How Long It Takes To Decant Different Wines
- Zinfandel: 30 minutes
- Pinot Noir: 30 minutes
- Malbec: 1 hour
- Grenache/Garnacha Blend: 1 hour
- Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot: 2 hours
- Petite Sirah: 2 hours
- Tempranillo: 2 hours
- Sangiovese or Chianti: 2 hours
- Vintage Port & Madeira: 2 hours
- Mourvèdre/Monastrell 2–3 hours
- Dão and Douro Reds: 2–3 hours
- Syrah/Shiraz: 2–3 hours
- Nebbiolo 3+ hours
