We all know that decanting a wine is a unique way to make it better. It removes some of the unpleasant odors from a freshly opened wine, so that the closed aromas are better distributed, the tannins become softer, and the aromas slowly change as they come into contact with the air.
Of course, not all wines need to be decanted, and you can often find various statements on the Internet. For example, white wines do not need to be decanted, but rather red wines. Don’t drink cheap wine when you decant, but drink expensive wine when you decant. You need to decant for the new year, but not for old wines, etc.
Most of the cheaper wines on the market are ready for you to drink right after opening the bottle. Their favorite part of the drink is usually the simple, straightforward fruit flavors. These flavors disappear with the wind long after the bottle is opened, not to mention being thrown into the bottle. If the wine itself is relatively weak in aromas and only leaves us with a sour taste, then decanting the wine itself is not very beneficial.
What wines need to decant?
(1) Younger wines
Most of the alcohol worth decanting for is due to one factor – drinking too early. Ideally, many fine wines will age for at least 5 to 8 years, and even the best wines will age for 30 to 50 years. These wines have enough “inner strength” to age slowly in the bottle and produce complex changes.
How many years of aging? For most average wines, 1-3 years is a relatively new stage. For wines that are tight, unopened or even difficult to taste, the quality of the wine changes upon decanting, giving off flavors of ripe fruit, the bitter tannins soften, and the wine becomes more open to the original, authentic style of the wine.
(2) Aged wines
Aged wines are not so much for decanting as they are for filtering sediment by changing the container. Usually, tannins, tartaric acid and polyphenols polymerize and coalesce during the aging process, resulting in precipitation. This precipitate can cause a rough, numb feeling in the mouth, so you need to decant the wine and remove the precipitate.
Of course, not all older wines have precipitation. Some older wines that have passed their optimal drinking period have fragile aromas and flavors, so there is no need to decant them up.
(3) Wines with off-flavors
What we are talking about here is the reduction of odors such as rotten eggs and matches. This is caused by a lack of oxygen in the wine, but it’s not bad. Generally speaking, the odor will disappear after the bottle has been opened and decanted for a while.
How do I choose a wine decanter?
There are various types of decanters on the market, but they usually fall into two categories: “large-bellied” and “thin-barred”. These two types of bottles naturally have different functions.
“Big belly”: large mouth, large contact area between wine and oxygen, can quickly release the aroma of wine, suitable for “decanting” new wine.
“Thin bar”: long, thin, and small at the bottom, with a small contact area between the liquid and the oxygen. Mainly used for aging. The high air content in a “big belly” can easily cause oxidation and greatly reduce the flavor of old wine. Therefore, a long and slender saison is needed to reduce the amount of contact with oxygen and to decant only the sediment.
How do I determine the decanting time?
Generally speaking, the younger the wine, the firmer and more astringent it is, and the longer it takes to decant. For New Year’s wines, the length of the decanting time is positively correlated with the aging potential of the wine, i.e. the better the aging potential of the wine, the longer the decanting time.
In addition, it is best not to pour a whole bottle of wine into the sommelier, whether it is 37 or 21. in this way, it is easy to decant unexpectedly and drink without aromas.
In short, you can consider yourself decant when you think the wine smells significantly better than it did before. But you don’t have to worry about the best condition of a bottle of wine. It’s something you can encounter but not require.
Decanting is not everything. While we can make a young, fine wine easy to drink, it can never compare to its natural aging style. Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal taste. Living in such a fast-paced city, no matter what you do, it gets hotter and hotter. Why don’t you just chill out after work and decant with a drink?
