4 Reasons Why You SHOULDN'T DECANT WINE (& 2 Reasons Why You Should)
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- Some people argue that certain wines should be opened even a day before serving them. But I disagree. In this video I will discuss several reasons why wine should not be aerated (or decanted) before serving at all. And in the end I will also talk about a couple of reasons, when you could or even should decant your wine.
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*CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO
0:00 Introduction
1:23 Reason 1
3:23 Reason 2
4:19 Reason 3
5:54 Reason 4
7:33 Reason 1 for decanting
8:06 Reason 2 for decanting
#wineeducation #decanter #wine
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I opened a bottle of Cabernet recently, and it smelled so good that I took a sip right after opening it and it was so acidic I thought it had gone bad. Swished it in my glass for about 5-10 minutes, and all of a sudden it was balanced and delicious. The next day it was even more balanced, with enough acid, but not super noticeable.
This is a very interesting comment, because I am not sure that acidity really changes over the time. If anything wine takes its journey to become a vinegar at some point and it happens at the presence of oxygen. Therefore VA and acetic acid should actually increase.🤔🤔🤔 But if You enjoyed it better with aeration, good for You! 🍷
@@NoSediment Thanks, good to learn that! I have no idea what was going on chemically, just seemed to be balanced after a few minutes of exposure.
I picked up the difference between aerating (sometimes called caraf'ing which I don't think is an actual word but maybe it should be) and decanting early in my wine exploration. But I quickly realized that if you insist on distinguishing the two, people will find you annoying.
But I think that what's actually annoying is having to reduce linguistic nuance in order so appease laziness and ignorance. Aerating and decanting are two completely different things and should have different words. The more specific language gets, the more precise our communication gets. The more precise our communication gets, the clearer our thoughts become.
Hahahahaha, yes. I already don’t bother anymore to be honest. These words are often used as synonyms, and only in masterclasses I will make a distinction between them. 😉
I always gently decant older Bordeaux wines simply to remove the sediment while avoiding overexposure to air. Depending on their age, I may put the wine back in the bottle and partially insert the cork if there is more than a few minutes before serving. For very young wines that are showing high alcohol or very robust fruit, I will decant them to allow some maturation via air contact. I agree it will do nothing to the tannin, but sometimes tasting a wine before the generally accepted drinking window will show me where it is in development and make it more enjoyable in its youth with some air. Another solid video with great information! Thanks for sharing.
Thank You for sharing Your experience. We should enjoy our wines the way we like them the best. 🍷 I was just here providing an information. 😅😂 Cheers ✨🥂
I work as a somellier in a fine dining restaurant in Santorini and at one time a customer asked for a very special wine that we had on the vintage collection called “thalassitis submerged” from year 2013 . A very unique and flavourful wine btw you should check it out if you haven’t :P . When I got the bottle on the table I offered a small sip at first before I decant it just so the customer can see the deference of the decanting process. The results were amazing and the customer was astonished . The sad part is that because as most restaurants in Santorini are locked in cliff sides to offer a great sunset view the sun was directly onto the decanter and that resulted in the wine losing great amount of flavour at the last servings . Next time I’ll consider serving it in red wine glasses so it can breathe there while still keeping it in a cool place to not lose flavour due to temperature changes :)
Wow, thank You for sharing this experience here. I haven’t even considered that something like that could’ve happened. Really good advice as well, I will keep this in mind.
As a separate topic, I have never been to Greece, which seems crazy, and I keep thinking- how did that happen 🤦♀️ Therefore hopefully I can visit this beautiful country soon, and maybe have the opportunity to taste the wine! Though, it seems to be quite expensive. 😅
Thank you. I just found your video, Beautiful dog btw! You’ve really helped me clarify things. And saved me money as I was looking at buying an expensive decanter. ! Don’t think I need to actually!!
First of all, thank You for commenting. 🙏🏻 I just want to clarify, that I do use decanters, but mostly for removing sediment and sometimes for aesthetic reasons. 🥲 I was just so touched by Your comment that I wanted to add that I am not completely against them. 🥹
I agree with you on point one! Also aerating vs true decanting (removing sediment) gets lumped together, way to double down on that! I have oddly always preferred freshly opened wine too…
I also LOOVVEEDD the HIMYM clip hahaha
Hi Matt, have a look at my comment and see what you think. I think wine in restaurants is a double edged sword. You get to try incredible vintages but not in the best circumstances. That tends to be why I nearly always go for the best bang for buck option.
Thank You. And phew, at least we are on the same page here! 🥂 Cheers!
What's going on dr. good to see you here :)
My personal experience has shown that some very oaky reds can become way more balanced through decanting. I usually never go over board with decanting though. 30-120 minutes, that’s about it.
Cheers to You! It is best that You know how You like Your wine to be served! 🙌
@benb5916 I fully agree. Especially for Barbaresco and Barolo. Also some wines like the Shiraz from Penfolds, Australia should be decanted twice as recommended by the wine maker. Then you get the best out of it and the wine is perfect balanced.
Lots of good info to consider, thank you!
Thank You for saying that, I was quite nervous to publish this video! 🍷✨
Hey, I was wondering if you could help me: I recently got a 2018 red wine and a 2021 Sauternes for Christmas, but I dislike decanters. Are you saying I should just pour it in a big glass (acting as a mini-decanter), immediately put a stopper in the bottle, and then swirl/enjoy the wine in the glass? If so, does that mean I have to wait with a glass in my hand for 30-minutes to an hour? That could be inconvenient, ha. Also, if I can't finish off a whole bottle and want to finish it the next day, how long will it last in a dark cupboard if I seal it with a stopper? Thanks for any help.
Hi! Sure, if You feel that You want to open these wines this Christmas, red wine can be poured in a larger glass and You can follow its development during the evening. However, if something is left in the bottle (and You don’t use coravin) best is to seal the bottle as good as possible (maybe vacuum if that is an option) and store in a cool, dark place. 🙏🏻 Depending on the amount left, it can survive up to a week this way.
A day before it is served??? Sacre bleu!!! Listen, I like to decant specific wines for specific reasons, but I’m not going to leave it out in the open for a full 24 hours, it will go completely flat. I like to limit it to 30 minutes to one hour, depending on how smooth I want it to pair with whatever I am eating. This is a personal taste, but certainly one hour is the absolute limit, usually less.
Hahahaha! Indeed, even some people here commented that they do. But that is fine, we each can do what we want with our bottle of wine! 🫶
Great information and well supported through quoted research. Thank you! I also thought the tannins would mellow with time/aeration.
Thank You. 🙏🏻 In general that is what happens. But to my understanding that takes a lot of time, and usually will happen while wine is aged in the barrels or later in the bottles. They combine and create longer chains which on the palate taste softer. It is just it cannot happen so fast in the decanter. 🙈
For once, I take a different view. Following advice, have previously very successfully doubled decanted champagne and always prefer to let a red wine breathe. Personal preferences though, each to their own...
All is good, and great that You know exactly how You like Your wine to be served! 🍷 it limits the chances of disappointment! 🥂 Cheers! ✨
Please I have a question! I just had a bottle of gruner veltliner (2021, dry, oak)I usually keep it in the fridge before serving. I poured a glass, I pumped the air out (just a simple manual pump) and put it back in the fridge. The glass was okay, but nothing special. When we finished I poured the remainder of the bottle and second glass was amazing. Both of us immediately noticed that it was significantly better than the first glass. Do you happen to have any idea why it happened?
Hi, thank You for the comment. 😉 the simple answer is -> I don’t know. Even with the manual vacuum pump, there will be some air in the bottle. Which would make one believe that wine was opening up. However, if the fridge was a regular food fridge with a temperature around 3-5oC I would say that wine was colder and temperature hid some if the imperfections of the wine. Other thing might be that when You finished the first glass, You got used to it, and maybe slightly tipsy, and second glass simply felt nicer. All three of these things could be true. 🤷♀️
@@NoSediment thank you!
Love your channel, great content! And the fact you bring up such topics for discussion that create passionate arguments from both sides 😂. I’m not an expert but there are many red wines that benefit from decanting. I’m talking mostly about Napa and Sonoma. I had wines where it was undrinkable (J Moss)or had acidity or tannins that got better after 2 hours and showed significant improvement in taste and I was warned by winemakers to let it breathe first. However I had wines that really go flat after 2 hours and loose in taste and flavors, Austin Hope from Paso Robles is great example.
Thank you Agnes for this wounderful explaination. It gave me a whole new view about decanting.
Greetings from Paraguay
Thank You for Your comment. And cheers! 🍷
I honestly didn’t know this about tannins and oxygen, thanks for sharing the science. I often pour young complex red wines into glasses ahead of time to let them breathe if pairing them with food, so I will be giving this some thought.
On the other side of things, I had my first Vin Jaune recently. I read a ton of stuff about decanting ahead of time (some people said for at least a day!) and finally asked a wine expert I knew who runs my favorite wine shop - he said he never decants Vin Jaune because he loves to see how it develops as you drink it and come back to it. That was definitely great advice and I had an awesome first experience with Vin Jaune as a result!
hello Agnese, the topic you have discussed today is important, I have seen many people who decant the wine without knowing why it is decanted or what the decanting is for, there are those who only pour the bottle without really seeing if it has sediment or not. Even so, I have a question, is a very old wine necessary to decant it? I have read blogs where there are those who open a bottle that is 30 or even 80 years old and say that they let it breathe for up to 3 hours, is that true? I am from the team that does not like the decant unless it is very necessary. greetings
Hi and thank You for Your comment. 🙏🏻The question regarding old wines is a touchy subject. When I just started to study wine one of the lecturers would tell me to never decant old wines, and he ended up imitating old people 👵🏼👨🏽🦳 Saying that they are fragile and such amount of oxygen will kill them. They have lived for so long without it. And since then I stay true to what he has said. And that Bonnes-Mares GC was an older vintage, I don’t think it would have died so fast if it was younger. 🤷♀️ But then again, older vintage bottles will usually show more sediment. I would probably not decant and not aerate, but very carefully pour the bottle in the wine glasses. 🍷🤷♀️ Cheers! ✨
@@NoSediment Thank you very much for your answer, you have helped me a lot, it was a question that was on my mind, coming from a professional like you, I am more than knowledgeable and I take that advice so as not to spoil old wines in the future. Cheers 🍇🍷
One time we tasted two wines from the same region side by side. One steadily improved over 3 hours, and the other tasted fuller at the beginning then dropped off in about two hours later. So, the contact with air does make a big difference to different wines. To conclude, one wine would benefit from decanting to reach its prime, whereas the other would suffer a different fate. It all depends on the wine.
I agree with what You say, and I didn’t want to sound like aerating wine doesn’t make the difference. What I was inviting to do, was to follow that development in the glass rather than simply aerating wine, as we cannot always know how it will react. 😅 anyway, thank You for the comment and Your insight, I truly agree that each wine will react differently. 🙏🏻
Hi Agnes I agree on many of your view in regards to decanting. An old wine might die from decanting. The ready to drink wine/ mature wine has in my view 3 stages. 1. Freshly opened. 2. after some time in the glas and the 3. many wines change again after some hours in the glas. If you can avoid to drink it before that time. By decanting you are down to only the last 2 stages or even only the last stage. However many restaurant have wine that are sometimes in my view too young to drink or at least if they were my own they would still be in the cellar. Only then if makes sense to decant them. 🍷
Thank You for adding Your thoughts. 🙏🏻 Yes, indeed many restaurants cannot afford (financially and storage wise) to store wines, which is why they buy the latest vintages and add these wines to their wine lists. But there are always some gems which are managed by wine lovers, and these restaurants tend to have some of the best wine lists’ 🌞🙌🍷
Hi. Great video. Thanks 🙏 so why is e.g. a Bordeaux blend wine perceived softer 1 h after opening?
I am not sure, I definitely haven’t perceived that. Maybe because we get used to it? First sip always seems a bit much and intense. For exams, I always clean my mouth with a fresh wine so my palate doesn’t mark first wines I taste lower, because they seem too alcoholic of high in tannin. 🤷♀️
I think you're bang on. Only exception being #1 the winemaker tells you to decant for X amount of time on the bottle or their website.
#2 you've tried the wine before and KNOW it get's better xyz amount of time.
Thank You! 🙏🏻 I do have arguments against the #1 but that is for another time! 😉 Cheers! 🍾✨
Carmenere!!! I keep getting sediment from those wines so I'm sure to decant them.
I kind of save decanting for wines that I believe may need it. Generally a something BIG with grippy tannins, and I've noticed, now that you point it out, it does nothing for the tannins... you're right.
I think you made a great point on pour into the decanter and serve right away. It just looks sexy, so do that.
Excellent video. I only discovered you today and I'm not just a new subscriber... I'm a new fan!
I agree. I prefer the wine to develop in the glass as well. Of course the temperature of the wine and the general shape of the glass are also important.
Great! 🙌 Thank You for Your commitment and cheers! 🍷
While I do not disagree what you said about decanting or letting wine breathe, take a bottle of Goldeneye Pinot Noir, do experiment of straight out of bottle or wait. Wine is so expressively better hour later that its like drinking two different wines.
Thank You for commenting. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 In the video I was not saying that wine doesn’t change with time in the glass. I was saying that I would prefer to follow its development in the wine glass, rather than decanting it and missing it. 🍷
I can easily get on board with the idea that decanting does not soften tannins. But, it doesn’t help resolve the problem that wine changes with the decanting. This is particularly noticeable in wines in their tertiary phase. I suspect other factors are at play, such as de-gassing.
Maybe it would be good to do a video regarding the effects of the decanting as relates to changes that do occur in the Wine?
I exactly said that wine changes, but why we cannot follow those changes in the glass? 😄
Glassware negates the need for decanting in most cases I think. Get a good glass and it is a mini decanter and you can check the evolution quite well. A big risk with decanters is, perhaps #5?, is if you overly aerate a wine that can't handle it, you can actually kill a wine, even quickly. I know wines that are delicious after 5 minutes in a good glass that start to die after 30 minutes in said glass.
Then you have the wines that keep going and going and going for hours.
Great point, and I completely agree. Glassware can act if not as a decanter, but definitely as an aerator, where wine can breathe, develop and open up. And that also shows You which wines are truly great - those that can be present for hours. 🍷 Thank You for Your comment! 🙏🏻
All very good points, generally I find that no more than 1 hour is sufficient to decent a decant wine. If you have good wine glasses then these will usually affect the wine more, which is a point I have tried to make to friends when I try to encourage them to buy better wine glasses
Thank You for commenting. Yes, wine glasses are important and I prefer the ones that are large enough so You don’t have to fill the glass until the rim, and wine actually can breathe a little. 🍷 Cheers! 🥂
I just found your channel three days ago and I have to tell you that I like your line of thinking concerning wine. How do you feel about wine that sits in old whisky barrels? If I were a betting man, I would say that you aren't a big fan, am I right? I just recently had a bottle of the 2013 Franciscan, Cabernet Sauvignon and enjoyed it straight from the bottle to the glass. it was amazing.
Thank You for such a lovely comment. 🙏🏻 I try not to judge, and I think each of wines have their audience. But then again there is my own taste and preferences, and I am not sure that would be something I would choose often. 😉
I really like your channel and the topics you discuss. Here however, I must respectfully disagree with almost everything you say. At the very least, it depends on the wine. A Barolo straight out of the bottle, especially if it is less than 10 years old, is hardly drinkable. After a few hours, and even a couple of days, it can be heavenly. Aeration clearly helps. This is why I would never order a bottle of Barolo in a restaurant, unless I call them a day earlier to open it.
Personally, I drink wine with my food, and so I have no time to sit with it and drink it over 4-5 hours. I typically finish a bottle in 3 days, so I can compare how it evolves. Certain wines get better, others don't change, and yet others get worse. As a rule of thumb good Italian reds need aeration, plenty of it. Certain whites get very interesting after a day or two, with a bit of oxydation. I once opened an Argentinian Torrontes and then decided not to drink it. I put the cork back, and then forgot about it. I then tried it several months (yes!) later, and it was exceptional, it turned into something like a 20 year old Meursault. And it was a 15 dollar wine.
As for actually decanting (removing the sediments), well I don't bother doing that. I have nothing against sediments and will happily have some in my glass. It has nothing to do with quality.
Just my opinion. Again, thank you for your interesting opinion and fostering the debate!
Thank You for Your comment. As I have said several times already: we should enjoy our wine the way we like it the best. No matter what other wine professionals or critics say, therefore that is fine. And that also includes serving temperature and choice of wine glasses.
For me, Nebbiolo is my favourite grape variety, and Barolo makes majority of my wine collection and I love it straight out of the bottle. I think it looses so much of the aromatics if left to ‘breathe’, because the most volatile components are gone. Plus, Barolo already tends to have quite high VA, and that only increases with aeration and overpowers the fruit. 🤷♀️ But whoever paid for the bottle should “order the music”! 🍷 Cheers!
The actor showed quite some impressive presence. I hope he is beeing remunerated appropriately. 😀
He should be. 😌
And by the way.. thank You for noticing. 🙏🏻
I recently opened a bottle of 1996 CHATEAU DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU and it tasted better and better as it sat in the decanter over about four hours. It seemed like the fruit and tanins were balancing out over time. But what do I know?
Well, I actually didn’t touch the subject of decanting old wines in this video. But I remember when I started to study wine it was the first thing I was told, never to decant older vintages. But, if You prefer it that way, no one should judge You for that. Enjoy Your bottles of wine the way You like the best! 🙌 However, it should be both ways, and people who like it fresh out of the bottle shouldn’t be shamed for not decanting their wines as well. 🙌 Cheers! 🥂
I love this video. Fully agree. I want to experience the evolution of my wine from time zero. That being said, it's Jon Snow not John Snow. Unforgiveable ☠
Please, please You must forgive me - this was editor not me. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 I hope You can once trust me again! 🥲
Got to say that i agreed with you too. Tried many times.
Was told by many to either open and left the bottle for 1day or to decant it and swirl vigorously as the vintage is too young. Sadly the first sip taste better. Or mayb im an amateur thats doing it wrong😅
No, no, no, no, You are not amateur who is doing it wrong. You are person, who has payed attention to the wine, rather than blindly following the ‘rules’. Anyway, You should always enjoy Your wine the way You like it the best, no matter what other people say! 🍷 Cheers! ✨
My perspective on aeration and decanting of wine has been changing over the last year or two, as since getting into wine 10 plus years ago the mantra was always, "aerate/decant your wines before serving". But after reading Kerin O'Keffe in Decanter on "decanting older wines? Never" and personal experience I have been changing my mind.
There are a lot of good points you brought out in this video, both for wine newbies and for us wine geeks. It is much more enjoyable to watch a wine open and evolve in a wide glass than suddenly exposing it to a whole bunch of oxygen all at once. Thanks for disproving the "aeration softens tannins" myth too. All in all this was a fun, interesting and insightful video. Much appreciated.
Thank You for such a great comment. I come from a sommelier background and I was thought that every wine above 50EUR must be decanted, except Pinot Noir. 😂 Now, looking back at it, it seems funny. But I was also going through phases, reading more and experimenting myself and it gave me more confidence to talk about it and study it more.
Cheers, Your input on the topics are always so interesting to read. 🍷
I remember a Chateau Musar Rosé that I had some years ago. The wine was okay, nothing to write home about. Not worth its money but still enjoyable.... up until the last one and a half glasses. It finally opened up after more than two hours and was finally very enjoyable. I wished I had aerated it aggressively before pouring it in my glass. But I wholeheartedly agree that you don't start to put it in a decanter before tasting. Better to pour it in the glass and if it feels closed (I have no idea how to convey what that actually means, for me it is 100% instinct) you can slosh it in a decanter from a little bit of extra height.
Great story, and who would have thought that Rose will be the one needing an aeration! 🍷
I recently purchased a decanter that allows for double aeration of the wine and I tested it on a quality single vineyard Argentian Malbec ,that I had already had opened and served 10 bottles of that vintage and after double aeration of the wine and another half hour in the glass it suddenly transformed into a incredible wine and tasted far better than any of the first 10 bottles , if I had not tasted the those bottles ,I would have sworn that this was a completely different wine !
I definitely don’t argue that it impact of air doesn’t change wine. Even if we don’t do decant wine and simply leave it in an opened bottle, wine in contact with air will change and at some point become undrinkable. Therefore, this was not my argument. I also said, that if You like Your wine aerated - go for it, it is a question of style we each prefer. My preference is fresh from a bottle or fresh from a decanter (if it had sediments), and then follow its development in the glass! 🙏🏻
You didn't mention the slow oxidation method. What are your thoughts on opening up a 2010 Barolo and letting it breath for 12 hours?
I once left half a bottle of Trebbiano for the next evening. Plugged, in the fridge. Needless to say, it wasn't even an intentional aeration, if you can even call it aeration. And it lost half if its aroma. Just once I had a positive experience with aeration, and it was with cheap wine, which had unpleasant notes in its aroma. In all other cases this was a waste.
Thank You for this insight. Despite what it seems on the video, I also think that there can be situations where aeration is actually good for the wine or the one who enjoys it. As You said it Yourself - that You had one good experience. Me too, I also remember one time when wine was just closed and it took 2 hours for it to open and become absolutely beautiful. 🍷 But in majority of times, I like to follow my wines in the glass. ✨🥂
The only wines I consistently decant are Bordeaux grand cru classe wines. If the wine is older than 10 yrs or an inferior vintage then I usually won’t decant. I had some young powerhouse vintages I decanted for 5-6 hours and they drank incredibly well.
👍 great, it means that You know exactly how You like Your wine and thus You can enjoy it the best! 🍷 Cheers! ✨
I agree with most of it, however, my experience is that decanting can help some wines. I usually try the wine first, to determine if I feel it closed. If so, I decant it. I have tried to allow it to open up in the glass, but usually it is too slow a process for me. But that might just be personal preference. Great video, though. Thank you.
I have no doubt about it, and for sure, some wines even might need it. 🍷 I just wanted to share a different point of view here. And as You say, it depends also on our personal preferences, and one cannot overlook that. 🍷 Cheers and thank You for the comment.
I’ve had several wines that didn’t impress me while they were freshly opened, but after being opened a couple hours they were suddenly among the best wines I’d ever had. I say don’t decant a bottle you’ve never tried, drink that one alone over a time period and if you find there’s a sweet spot after the wine was opened, write it down. This way the next time you open bottles of that wine you can impress the company you have with you so they get the ideal experience drinking wine at your table 😉👍🏼
I agree that wine can be closed or sometimes even too much sulphur can disturb the aroma of a freshly opened bottle. Therefore I am not saying wine doesn’t need time, I was just suggesting to follow wine in the glass. I have also been in the situations where I enjoy wine much better after it has been opened for few hours, but in my case it was the temperature change. 🥂
@@NoSediment I mean at a constant temperature in the cases I’m mentioning
With my Corovin, I get a sense if the wine is very sour or very tannic. With both findings, I find removing the cork and replacing it a few minutes later generally makes the wine much better in a day or two. I’m winning about 70% of the time.
Cheers to that! 🙌🙌🙌🍷 what happened with the rest of the 30%?
@@NoSediment the 30% remained disappointing to say the least, unpleasant at worst.
🥲
I dunno! As you say yourself, the wine does change in exposure to air. Whether for the better or worse it depends on the wine and the personal preferences. To me some wines certainly show great development with proper aeration making a decanter a good bet, but it’s seldom I actually manage to plan ahead for something like that!
I think my number one argument would be the use of glassware - at least for me this is where I started to change my beliefs for decanting. No matter if Your preference is more aerated wine or fresh out of the bottle- one can follow the wine’s development in the glass. There are some more volatile aroma compounds that will be lost and You will never notice them if decanted/aerated. But I also stay true to my number one rule - we should serve wine the way we personally like it the best! 🙌 Cheers! 🍷
I agree that French reds don't need to aerated very long, but must be decanted on Principle Alone. I prefer Whatman medium flow filters, since I prefer to drink my wine than chew it. Are French winemakers allergic to filters?
It is not the case only with French wines, if winemaker decides not to filter their wine, after a while it might throw a lot of sediment. For me that is part of the wine. 🤷♀️🍇
I ruined the best bottle of wine I've ever bought.
For my birthday a couple years ago I decided to splurge and treat myself to a older vintage wine. I didn't go crazy mind you. I bought a 05 Almaviva. I opened this wine and based on it being 17 years old I figured I should probably decant it to remove sediment. I was correct in assuming this as there was a decent amount of sediment. I poured a glass for myself and my parents, and it was outstanding, I must have nosed the wine for 10 minutes before I even took my first sip. I re-bottled the wine as I planned to share the rest with a friend after dinner. 3-4 hours later when I re-opened the wine, raving about how good it was I poured a glass and with great anticipation I inhaled looking for the layers of complexity I had experienced earlier. It was not there. The wine was still balanced in all aspects but the aroma and flavors were extremely muted. I was surprised and confused. A while later is when I learned that just like aging wine in the bottle there is a bell curve to the development of wine and to this day I will not make that mistake again! Luckily it was only a $90 bottle and not a $900 bottle (not that I could afford the later) 😄
WOW, what a story and thank You for sharing it. 🥺🥺🥺 I am really sorry to hear that, the one good thing about it, is that -> at least You got to experience that wine a little bit with Your parents. 🙏🏻
I think that decanters are totally useless, although recently I had a good Bordeaux from St Julien that took 4 days to “open”, just left in the fridge. Sediments are great.
I've decanted numerous wines that probably had no need for it in my younger years. With time only very old wine with sediment ("borras", we call it in Portugal) or Vintage Port older than 25 years became my go-to bottles for this method. I pass a light through the bottom of the bottle and if there's sediment there, I'll decant.
I mean this is how we learn, we do what we are told or think that is correct, and once we feel comfortable enough we can start to experiment and see really is best for us. 🍷
Glad to hear wine qualities are getting better and better. Just hope climate changes don't ruin this trend.
That is a very painful topic for many winemakers, fortunately many are adapting their viticulture to mitigate the effects of the climate change! 💪
I have to disagree, but only with the idea that either perspective is *always* right. Some wines are best right from the bottle, and some do definitely improve with a little air and time. And yes, unfortunately, some will die in a short time if exposed to the air. But what I do agree with is that you should start sampling the wine right away and experience the evolution of the wine.
Well.. reading Your comment until the end, convinced me that we think alike. As I don’t argue that wine doesn’t change over the time - I argue that we should follow the wine in its development, it is more fun that way! 🥂🍾
In my experience, the wines that benefit the most from aeration are some complex whites that come in a very reductive state (eg. top Chablis or some white Bordeaux). In a not-too-warm environment, it may take a while for them to "normalise" and I don't think the process is particularly enticing to most casual drinkers.
My argument is why not do that ‘aeration’ in the wine glass? Times when wine is served in a glass filled until the rim are long gone. 🤷♀️
@@NoSediment the more I think about it, the more convinced I get that you're right 😂
I attach an aerator to the bottle then pour it into a decanter - swish the decanter around a few times then pour it into a glass and enjoy the whole bottle ... The last glass is always the best 🙂 Cheers !!
Cheers! 🍷🙌
I find it more often than not that using the usual flat bottom decanter to aerate, the wine loses fruit too fast.
Aeration in the glass or bottle is a safer way to let the wine evolve so not to miss the most enjoyable moment. The key is not to drink it too fast that half a bottle is gone before that moment arrives, like some german reds in which fruits come out after 1 hour or 2.
I think most wines benefit from 30mins of aeration to blow off any reductive scent, of course that’s after 2-3 sips upon opening first.
I still can’t get over an experience that I had when visiting Hermitage. A wine shop owner offered a tasting of a wine opened a week ago at room temperature. (It was not good btw) I was wondering if that’s the real French way? And our fussy tasting ritual/requirement is just too overhyped and theatrical?😅
Good tip - not drinking wine too fast! But of course I agree. 🍷 but regarding Your experience in France, I have also had situations where I have been served faulty wine (corked) from the owners hands. I don’t think it is the way, rather a bad situation for everyone. Syrah is actually a quite reductive grape and can take a lot of oxygen before it starts to deteriorate. Maybe it was done because of that? 🤷♀️ And also yes -> I do believe that wine tastings and even talking about wine can be too theatrical. 😅
@@NoSediment great to know the info on syrah. Yes, the wine was not vinegary. There was just no fruit and rather like a tincture without being herbal.
I started using a decanter less and less.
Just straight into the glass.
Me too, now majority of my decanters are sitting on the shelves. 🤷♀️🥺
I like you helper in the chair behind you! What does he think about decanting?😄 He looks like a wine snob lol...love it!
He is a snob in all the ways, including wine. 🙈😂 Cheers! 🥂
I'm no expert, just know what I like. Reds are my favorite. I find that getting a good sniff as soon as th bottle is open gives me a good indication of taste. Then I pour a first bit immediately to taste. I leave it in bottle uncorked until I'm done with my evening enjoyment. Re-cork and save for later
Cheers! 🍷 And thank You for adding Your thoughts and experience on this subject! 🙌🙌🙌
Here is my humble opinion on this... We all have our own liking to certain notes in wine and what we would consider "too pronounced". For example, a person may not like the "noticeable fruitiness" after immediately opening, consider this unbalanced and would like other notes to become more prominent by letting a little dissipate by waiting. The same with hearing frequencies and using an equalizer to downplay or increase certain frequencies to balance out the sound. Every person has a different equalizer setting for music like they have different accentuations in their flavour/aroma experiences. I view aeration as the "equalizer" of tasting wine and brings the wine into balance to the preference of the person tasting.
This is why I noted that if You like Your wine to aerated, feel free to always do it. However, to argue thay wine MUST be aerated means that somebody is pushing their idea on others, without understanding that preferences are different. And as mentioned in the video, majority prefer not aerated wines. 🤷♀️
I agree with the arguments against decanting. I hate decanting, because all decanters have stupid shapes and are difficult to wash. Try washing the snail shell shaped Riedel decanter.
Hahaha, I was laughing more than I should have. I so, so understood You. I mean, I have a Riedel Eva, and since I first used it, it has never been completely clean. 🤦♀️
Some aromas and flavors only show at certain window of time after the cork is pulled. Some go "flat quick" and you miss the best part of the wine if you decant. Some come out with an amazing bang but also die quickly. I agree to let it decant in the glass so you can appreciate the development overtime.
Thank You! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻☺️
We personally enjoy pouring straight for bubbles and white wines (youthful, aromatic, and unoaked), while we like to aerate our red wines (full-bodied, moderate or higher acidity, and moderate or higher tannins).
I always say that wine should be served exactly how You like it the best, and that includes aeration, temperature and wine glasses. It is made to bring joy! ✨ Cheers! 🥂
Indeed, @@NoSediment!🍾🍷🥂
Good young wines should be aerated. Here is the excerpt from Estournel
“The youngest vintages-those produced after 2000-should be decanted at least two hours before tasting. Aeration will help bring the spirit and passion of each wine into focus, so its potential can be fully revealed.
We recommend opening without decantation vintages between 1982 and 2000 about two hours before serving, so their aromas may be released gently.
Wines produced before 1982 should be served in the bottle to avoid abrupt aeration that may not be favorable to the delicate nature of these precious nectars.”
As I have said already, You do what You feel like to doing with Your wine. But there are no rules, and no-one should be telling You how to enjoy wine that You paid for. I was just giving another perspective! ✨ Cheers! 🍷
Is decanting overrated ?
It all depends...
Wine could enhance or simply accompany a meal, a solo dinner, a family reunion or a power business lunch at a famous steakhouse.
Decanting at home, will be a matter of preference, depending on the wine and the host.
Decanting at a high end restaurant, it's more specific, there's no "one rule for all" bottles.
That's why, sommeliers or captains/waiters, should be knowledgeable about most wines in the list. Not just to know when to suggest to decant, but also, having the required information about each regions and grapes characteristics.
Is not the same to decant an older (+15 years) Pinot Noir or Amarone, than to do it to a young Cornas, Jumilla or Mt. Veeder Napa Cab.
And also, remember that there's a great number of very young red wines, that are unfiltered, and therefore, with a high chance of having sediment, so age should not be an obvious reason to decant or not.
I'm in favor of decanting most red wines, at home or at work, not just for the additional flair that a gorgeous decanter, like the Horn or Fatto A Mano, brings to the table, but also, because at the end of the day, like the art of cooking, there is...the art of wine.
Cheers, and thank you again for your inspiring, informative and very well made videos, salud !!!
Thank You for such a detailed comment. I think You summed up greatly what I was trying to say. We must follow our own preferences! 🍷 cheers! ✨🥂
John Snow!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 You are the best.
Thank You! 🙌😉😅
How about those instant aeration bottle attachments for pouring.
If You want my honest opinion - they are useless. I am really sorry to say that. 🥺 If I or my guests would like to have aerated wine I would simply use decanter and be more aggressive with the wine. There are somms who simply turn the bottle around and wine splashes all over the decanter introducing the same amount of oxygen in the wine. 🍷and it looks 😎 cool. ✨🥂
If i know the wine will be consumed quickly (dinner party with 6+ guests) then i prefer to decant. If alone and drinking over several nights i now rarely decant only sedimenal wines.
Cheers to that! 🍷
Naughty Naughty. A great clickbait episode if ever I saw. I'm not sitting on the fence but there are times when a decant is best and when straight from the bottle is fine. I've had freshly opened wine in restaurants that have been (to coin an old English saying) 'tighter than a gnat's arse' and I can't wait till I'm half way through my main course for it to develop in the glass. Some careful aeration with the decant can kick start the process and no harm done. Some great bottles only need 30 minutes to an hour to get going but when you're in a restaurant there's hardly any time because they have to open the bottle in front of you to prove you get what you're paying for.
I totally agree with you that most modern wine can and should be ready to drink upon release. The days of having to wait decades (DECADES) to be able to enjoy an expensive bottle should be consigned to the dustbin. (I've been slagged off by fellow wine geeks for suggesting such a heresy.) However, I've had wine from some regions in Italy where the wine has so much tannin it's like drinking ink without time and is good with food only. I love wine regions like Toro in Spain where powerful wine tannins are to be enjoyed and can be appreciated upon bottle opening.
Cheers Agnes. WT
Hi! 🙌🙌 Guilty as charged. I knew it would create a turbulence, but I also knew that decanting wine was one practice that is wrapped in many myths and semi-truths. So I wanted to address that. What I wished for and have always advocated - I want wine drinkers and lovers to enjoy their wine the way they like it the best. That includes serving temperature, wine glasses and question of aeration. And if one knows that there is no rules/dogma to be followed, then they can start experiment! 🍷 Cheers! ✨
@@NoSediment I completely agree with you. Wine is to be enjoyed and not feared and there is a lot of fear out there. The fear of appearing ignorant in front of wine aficionados (so called). I've been drinking wine since the 1980's and there was a cultural wine divide back then for sure, especially in class ridden societies like the U.K where wine was a foreign thing. That was when any wine outside of France was looked down on. Cheap wine for the masses and cases of good stuff for those with university degrees and well paid jobs. My favourite wine region, Spain, was sneered at.
Oddly enough, my first ventures into wine involved those rough single varieties from the south of France and I swear it's put me into good stead. I still like them and that made me learn about wine without having to read a 500 page book. I've also been blessed with travelling to old world wine countries since I was young. A couple of years ago my wife and I were in the marvelous town of Trujillo, Spain, and whilst we were eating I watched locals happily quaffing down bottles of the local Extremadura wine without a care. Buy what you can afford; drink and enjoy.
Two weeks ago, I opened a 2020 tannat, once I opened, the wine was very muted, and took 45 minutes to open in the Glass, using a 690ml glasses, my wife look at me and said, finally I understand the aeration you talked about, you should have decant it, because it opened UP in the last glass of wine 😅
Great story. I mean there are exceptions for everything, I think. I had the opposite recently with one Sauternes. It was quite lovely in the glass and with time in the glass started to loose its shape and become a bit lousy. 🥺
Uruguayo detected
@@odahcaMleinaD actually bolivian, we also produce good tannat, very different from Uruguayan tannat due to the high alttitude
@@mauricioalvarez204 tannat is ours jejeje.. Just joking. I will try to enjoy a Bolivian Tannat as soon as possible
What a good looking doggo. Such a handsome fellow/lady. The pose at 7.01 made me want to ask for a pawgraph and a picture. Your content was great but the good boy made it better.
Dogs make everything better, just by existing and being always there for us! 🙏🏻
I ALWAYS aerate young wines, especially as here in Australia, the vast majority of closures are Stelvin screw caps and they NEED air to blow off any reductive odours.
Actually a video on wine closures with pros and cons might be very informative?
I think in my early UA-cam videos I made one about the corks and variety of closures. But I have to make another one. 🫡
@@NoSediment
I’ll look for it.
Thank you.
Interesting 😊
I hope You enjoyed it!
I agree 101%
Thank You for that’ 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I agree 👍🏻
🙌🙌🙌
Wine for thought. Port Maderia? Thank You.
Vintage port tends to drop a lot of sediment, therefore decanting is advisable. 🙌🙌🙌
A HIMYM quote?! I wasn’t expecting that and I’m here for it!!
Aeration/decanting to me is almost as much about ritual as it is about separating the sediment or allowing a wine to breathe. It’s something I do often and don’t necessarily think about the why when I’m doing it.
HIMYM actually have several fun references to the wine world. 🙌 And I agree about the ritual, and even though technically I am not pro-wine decanting, I will often use decanters for serving my wine. 🤷♀️
Not all wine needs aeration nor decanting. For the most part I never decant but allow wine to morph in the glass🎉
Yes, I agree. I always like to follow my wine in the glass rather than in the decanter. 🙌🙏🏻
Hi Agnese, Great video and a good point well made. I have been drinking wine for over 40 years and, despite owning four, I have never used a decanter. I do however, open older bottles about an hour before serving and that'll do for me. I had a Lynch-Bages 2008 the other day and that was excellent but had to leave about 15 - 20mm in the bottom of the bottle due to sediment (oh - and I use decent glassware which does help). Cheers
Thank You 🙏🏻 for adding Your insight to this topic. I also have several decanters, and they are used increasingly less and less. However, my wine glass collection is getting bigger. 🙌🥂🍷
I agree, I actually do prefer a freshly opened bottle but I’m a sucker for aesthetics and I love serving a red wine out of my beautiful Josephine decanter!
Yes, me too. Especially when guests arrive I like to serve wines in the decanters- they are so beautiful and add celebratory feeling to the evening. 🍷😀
I find it a bit unfortunate that the Bonnes-Mares anecdote was accompanied by pictures of a wine served from a Bordeaux bottle. 😜
(My apologies: I thought my comment ended up at the wrong video and deleted it. However it was correct all along so I restored it. 🤣)
Unfortunately, I cannot always add videos to illustrate the exact situation. And that event was long time ago, way before I started by wine UA-cam journey. 😬🥹 Sorry for that.
@@NoSediment Just teasing. I agree with your take on aeration and stemware. Looking forward to more accordance regarding wine taste and a good recommendation here and there.
Well, I stayed to the end and reason 2 is mostly why I decant, it’s just sexier.
Hahaha, I love Your reasoning, and I agree with You’ 🙌
you should'nt just gulp down good wodka. It's a product that deserves to be appreciated as much as a fine wine.
I have noticed people starting to talk about high quality vodkas to be enjoyed slowly. But high quality vodka should also be as clean as possible, thus neutral. 🤷♀️ Anyway, I was referring to the traditional way of consuming vodka in my country, and the mother country of Vodka next to us - and that is gulping it down and having a salty fish on top! 😉
So actually the answer should be „it depends“. The younger the wine, the more likely decanting it will help the wine. For red that is.
Why is that? If it doesn’t help to soften the tannins? And flavourwise most will prefer freshly opened bottle? Yes, in this video I was mostly referring to red wines. 🙏🏻
@@NoSediment The tannins are just one group of chemicals in a wine. Are we saying the exposure to oxygen doesn’t change the wine?
No, and You see in the video that I never said that or even implied that. The thing is:
• is that change good? Do we like that change?
• why shouldn’t we follow the wine through its changes in the wine glass?
💯
🙌🙌🙌
I very rarely decant unless to remove expected sediment. It can be expensive to decant if, like me, you can barely even look at a nice fine decanter without cracking it.
Hahah, yes that is a very good point. Some of those decanters are so fragile and then when You use them - so incredibly difficult to clean. 🧼 sometimes it is better to leave them on the shelf looking good! 🌞
Not all wine is the same. Just because you tried a bottle of Gamay and prefer it not being decanted does not mean I should drink a 20 year old Barolo the same way.
I love my Barolos all straight from the bottle. And I also don’t think Ridge is making Gamay. 😉 Anyway, You should drink wine the way You like it the best, I was just sharing additional information so we stop looking at wine in a such a dogmatic way. If You love Your wine to be aerated - do so, there is no rules to follow! 🙌🍷
@@NoSediment I either drink wine by myself or open several bottles with a crowd, so bottles sit longer than they should. I rarely decant unfamiliar wine, but if I know from experience it tasted better after a few hours or even the next day, I will decant next time. 95% of what I drink is not decanted.
Let's talk about how they say proof is ounce. 😅
I am not sure I understood that? 🥺
@@NoSediment I am stuck at how much to pour. 11%-12ounces. . .
Anyhow. I actually stopped double decanting. But, now I drink twice as much. Duno how that's suppose to work.. lol!
I kind of agree. However, especially for German Riesling and burgundy chard it really helps to get rid of that sulphury reduction.
Yes, that is true, and some German Rieslings will have crazy pungent nose of SO2 that can also breathe out after a while. 🙌
I'm so with you on this subject.
Thank You! 🙌🙌🙌
Definitely not sharing a Rayas with you.
OMG, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 😩😩
@@NoSediment could you please do a video where you taste a fonsalette straight from the bottle and state that you don't get the hype. Would compliment this one well. And repeat that airing the wine won't help the "tannins" (quote the scientific research) and use that to prove all your points.
Plus, I would also talk about global climate change and how that will affect the wine world, and You would be in the first rows saying that it is not true, and science s***! I like that idea! 😏
@@NoSediment Airing wine before service affects ethanol and sulphite (+others) compounds. Nothing to do with tannins, so I hope you understand the irony of calling someone a science denier while using a study (probably a valid one) to prove something else.
@@prodaby SO2 reactions with O2 are also very, very slow. Trust me, I learned it the hard way, when submitted my essay for IMW, where I said that it works as an antioxidant, when actually I should have written that it binds with oxidised alcohols, thus removes the unwanted aromas. And ethanol evaporates at the temperature of 73oC, which I hope none of the restaurants are serving any wine at! 😏 I am not saying that YOU specifically shouldn’t aerate Your wine, it is Your Rayas and You should enjoy it the way You prefer. I am just sharing what I believe in, and apparently Ridge and Mondavi winemakers as well. 🤓 I am sorry You took it as an attack on You.
I allmost never decant and I agree with all you say
🤗🤗🤗🤗 thank You! 🙏🏻 it is so nice to hear that I am not alone! 🍷