Why, When, and How to Decant a Bottle of Wine
At Donelan, we make wines that are built to last. To set our wines and customers up for success, we do what we call “pre-aging”. This means we hold back vintages so that our wines are already several years old when we release them and thus more ready to enjoy. Right now in 2024, our “current release” Pinots are 2018s.
Because we’re so invested in the longevity of our wines and making sure our customers know how to enjoy them in their youth and maturity, we talk a lot about decanting. Aside from a glass and a corkscrew, a decanter is a must-have accessory for your bar cart. Learning how to decant wine isn’t hard (it’s just a fancy vase) but understanding what it does and when you should use it will make a world of difference in how your wine tastes.
What is a Decanter and what does it do?
A decanter is a glass vase that holds wine or liquor. They’re pretty to look at, often used as home decor, and elevate the wine-drinking experience. But decanters also serve a purpose. The large base of the decanter helps with aeration. If you compare a typical decanter to a wine bottle, you can see how the super wide shape helps more oxygen come into contact with more wine.
So, what does that do? Well, an unopened bottle of wine shouldn’t have any contact with oxygen as it ages. But once it’s opened, it needs to breathe to loosen up and release all of its amazing flavors and aromas. Think of it as sitting at your desk and working all day. At 5 o’clock, you have to get up, stretch your legs, and socialize before you feel like yourself again. It’s the same for wine after years in a bottle.
The other thing a decanter does for red wines is help remove any sediment that’s built up over time. Sediment, or “wine crystals”, are very normal to find settled at the bottom of a bottle. As you slowly pour wine into a decanter, stop when you start seeing sediment. The goal is to keep the sediment in the bottle.
Which Wines Need Decanting
The truth is there’s no hard and fast rule for knowing when to decant a wine. The only way to know for sure is by uncorking a wine and giving it a sniff or a taste. However, in general, you can expect full-bodied wines that are still young to need time in a decanter. You might wonder why a young and spry wine would need more time and air than a wine that’s very old. It does sound a bit backward. While an older wine might need decanting to be “woken up”, a young wine needs decanting to mellow out.
A big, bold Cabernet that has 10-20 years ahead of it is going to be extremely tight and stiff if you’re opening it at just 2 years old, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it and love it! When our 2021 Cardiac Hill Syrah scored 99 points, we released it early in celebration and told customers to decant it for 2-3 hours before drinking. It’s delicious if you give it time and space to settle down. The bigger and younger the wine, the more air and time it needs. This is the beauty of decanting. It gives us the ability to enjoy those intense wines now instead of having to wait 15 years.
When to Avoid Decanting
All wines benefit from a breath of fresh air, but not all wines need a full decant. Oftentimes just uncorking the bottle for a while or some swirling in the glass will do the trick. Sparkling wine and Champagne will lose their bubbly effervescence if given too much air. Rosé is a wine that is meant to be enjoyed young and straight from the bottle. Many white wines like our 2021 Nancie Chardonnay are tasty after swirling around.
You should be careful when decanting very old wines. We’re talking 15+ years old. They could need a short half-hour stint in a decanter to open up, but there is such a thing as over-decanting or exposing the wine to too much oxygen. Think of this as the wine getting too loose. With age, wine will grow much softer, its tannins will calm down, and there will be less structure. If you let that delicate wine sit out in the air for too long, it will release all of its incredible notes and lose its personality. You can easily overdo the aeration with library wines and miss the drinking window.
For example, Winemaker David Milner recently tasted our 2009 Venus Roussanne and he said the perfume was jumping out of the glass. No decanter was needed.
White Wines
Don’t underestimate the power of white wine. A lot of people think that because they’re lighter in color and have more floral, brighter notes they’re ready to drink, but there are plenty of intense, full-bodied Chardonnays out there. Our Genevieve’s Block, for example, is a wine we often decant for 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on how old it is.
How to Taste-Test
One of the most fun things about wine is its element of surprise, regardless of the age or varietal. When it comes to decanting, two of the most important things you can do are plan ahead and taste test. You might assume a wine needs 2 hours of decanting but it could only need 30 minutes to open up. If you don’t sample it first, then you’re stuck pouring guests a very nice but now very bland wine. Imagine making that mistake on a special occasion with an expensive bottle you’ve been saving for years. All this to say, don’t be afraid to trust your senses.
How to Decant Wine Before Dinner
You’re having a dinner party at 7 pm and you want to drink a 2017 Pinot Noir that you’ve been saving. Open the bottle at 5 pm, pour a small glass, swirl, smell, and taste.
- Is it aromatic and easy-drinking on the first sip? Do you immediately get tobacco, cranberry, and spice? Is the finish long and velvety? Put the cork back in until dinner.
- Is it shy on the nose and a little tight in the mouth? Can you parse out a few notes like cherry and cedar? Leave the bottle out uncorked.
- Can you not identify any scents? Does it just smell or taste like alcohol? Is it tannic and intense? Get that decanter out. Pour the entire bottle of Pinot gently at an angle. Try to keep sediment out of the decanter. Check on the wine now and then before dinner. It will likely taste like a whole new wine by the time you’re ready to eat.
Types of Wine Decanters
We recommend choosing a classic decanter with a pretty wide base, like this one from Riedel. You can use it for any wine and depending on the varietal and age, simply adjust the amount of time you decant it for. But if you want to be very organized, you can get a different decanter shape for each wine style. Full-bodied wines like those big, brooding Syrahs and Cabernets will want a very wide-base decanter. Medium-bodied wines like Pinot and Grenache will aerate well in a slightly slimmer decanter. Then for lighter-bodied wines go with a decanter that’s more of a carafe.
These days there are all sorts of beautiful and artsy decanters to choose from. You can certainly go with something dramatic and fun, like Riedel’s Mamba decanter, but keep in mind that the funkier-shapes require careful cleaning after the party’s over.
The Benefits of Learning How to Decant Wine
Understanding the point of decanting wine and learning when to do it will make a huge difference in how you drink and even buy wine. You’ll be able to choose wine with a much better perspective and more confidence, and you’ll also never waste a great bottle again. For example, you’re going to dinner at a friend’s house in an hour and the host asks you at the last minute to bring a bottle of wine. When you stop by the store or look at your cellar, you’ll pick a 2018 Pinot, 2020 Viognier, or even a 2012 library wine instead of a 2022 Cabernet which would have needed to be in a decanter at least an hour ago.
Once you have the wisdom of aerating wine, you’ll also get better at building a personal wine collection. As you buy and cellar wine, you’ll build a range of vintages and varietals that are ready to pour and drink, need an hour to open, and need to decant all afternoon. You’ll be able to own and drink a variety of great wines because you’ll know how to get the most out of them, at whatever stage of life they’re in.