Being new to the Anuva Wines Team, we had a wine tasting, internally for the team and I wanted to know about decanting. Why decant? Here is what I found as I read different sites around the web…
Say you are about to have a special holiday dinner or a celebration or even a weekday dinner with the family, and you decide to open that particular bottle that you have been saving for quite some time now. A bottle like this you may want to take into consideration and experience the wine to it’s fullest potential. If this particular bottle has been aging nicely in a properly stored area then decanting the bottle is the cherry on top of this delightful vino-sundae.
The purpose of decanting is to remove sediment from the wine, and allow the wine to breathe. Decanting is a process that can benefit older red wines and younger red wines as the older will tend to have more sediment and the younger will need to breathe (assuming it’s a wine that needs more oxygen). Since older red wines have a longer aging process there is a great quantity of sediment that needs to settle out.
When you pour the wine from the bottle into the decanter keep the bottle on the same side as it rested to age, so the sediment does not mix with the liquid. Then you will want the wine to sit and breathe for thirty minutes to an hour before drinking. Remember not to let the wine sit out opened for more than five or six hours, for the amount of air will develop vinegar flavors that harm the taste. When you finish your meal or occasion cork the remaining bottle and store in the refrigerator.
The reason a decanter allows the wine to breathe better than just uncorking the bottle is a result of the surface area of wine that contacts air. A decanter expands the surface area of the wine so more air can interact with the liquid, which improves the breathing process.
Now, if you have that special bottle of Port waiting in the cellar then I recommend you decant it before drinking it, and of course enjoy.
http://wineintro.com/basics/decanting.html
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- Wine Aging
- Wine and Oak-Aging: French and American Oak
- Beginners Guide to Wine and Food Pairing
- Changing Tastes in Wine
- More on Cork vs Screw Cap
