Before tasting a red wine, we usually take out a glass vessel called a “decanter” and pour the red wine from the bottle into this vessel. This process is known as the “decapping” step of wine tasting.
So, in general, why is it necessary to change the bottle when drinking red wine? In fact, this has two purposes.
1. Separate the sediment. When you change the bottle to decant, you can separate the sediment that accumulates in the bottle over the years from the red wine. After all, these tannins and pigments that form the precipitates of red wine are a bit bitter. If you drink it with red wine, it can ruin the flavor of the wine. Therefore, the best way to drink the wine is to change the bottle, leaving the precipitates in the bottle, and then transfer the clarified red wine to a water cooler.
One thing to know is that although these crystallized sediments may have a bitter taste when consumed, they do not mean that the wine has deteriorated. On the contrary, red wines are particularly common for their excellent quality and are the best proof of their fullness.
2、Decanting . Since aged red wine is difficult to decant after years of sleep, it is necessary to replace the bottle with a decanter so that the red wine is exposed to the air. The advantage of doing so is that it can disperse the sulfide gas in the bottle, accelerate the oxidation of red wine, release the aroma of red wine, so that the sleeping red wine can be decanted as soon as possible.
In fact, decanting is for those wines that are ready to age. Generally speaking, red wines and sweet wines do not require this step. However, if we want to change the bottle more professionally, we need to pay attention to the following steps.
1. Place the wine in an upright position a few days before decanting.
2, when decanting , if conditions allow, you can use a candle to light the lamp, because it is easier to see the floating dynamics of the sediment with candlelight, so as not to pour the sediment into the bottle together.
Not all red wines need to be decanted, and not even all red wines need to be decanted. Generally speaking, older Bordeaux wines are more likely to produce sediment, and younger wines can be decanted by accelerating the oxidation process. However, for many red wines, they can be drunk straight away without decanting , especially new red wines from Burgundy Beaujolais, which need to be drunk as soon as possible.
