Decanting Time?

[Scotty vino]

One of the wine guys at Dan Murphys told me i should decant wine 1 hour for
every year past the vintage year on the bottle.

How can this be right?
Does that mean if i crack open a 2005 kilikanoon covenant it's gotta sit for 7 hours in the decanter?
What happens at a restaurant? This rule could never apply.
Thoughts/advice?

[Panda 9D]

Ignore that piece of advice.

[ticklenow1]

Ignore that piece of advice.

I'll second that.

In my limited experience, the younger they are, the longer the wine needs in the decanter to let the fruit out. That's assuming the wine is of decent quality of course.

Cheers
Ian

[Gavin Trott]

One of the wine guys at Dan Murphys told me i should decant wine 1 hour for
every year past the vintage year on the bottle.

How can this be right?
Does that mean if i crack open a 2005 kilikanoon covenant it's gotta sit for 7 hours in the decanter?
What happens at a restaurant? This rule could never apply.
Thoughts/advice?

Hmm

One of the wine guys from WHERE?

.

[AndrewCowley]

Interesting topic. Probably covered before on this forum.

My limitted experience is that reds 7 years old and less are worth decanting almost without any thought. You can't kill them by over decanting.

Older reds are much harder. I am still not sure how to open one of these up, sniff & taste, and make a quick decision whether to decant or not. If there is sediment then I guess you need to, but then you could pour it back into the bottle and reseal it to limit the amount of decant. I think I have seen you definately can over decant older reds so care is required. So I think it is very hard.

[daz]

Many older reds can, or should, be decanted to remove the worst of the sediment (some finer sediment is virtually unavoidable) but they can fall over quickly with too much air time. The bloke who told you the older the wine the longer the decant is an idiot, I'd ignore any and all advice he may offer. What he told you is arse about face.

[KMP]

One of the wine guys at Dan Murphys told me i should decant wine 1 hour for
every year past the vintage year on the bottle. How can this be right?

This advice was quite common in the "old" days. By old I mean '70s and before. I'm not sure of the exact reason but it may have had to do with letting off notes dissipate. That is not something we should have to worry about these days. However simply accepting that decanting is good for young wines is just as misplaced. In a number of triangulation tests with different types of wines I have found that I really cannot identify the difference between decanted and pop and pour for most wines. When I have been able to tell there is a difference decanting has not always been an improvement to my palate but it can be to others. It can be a very individual thing as I have seen folks argue that the popped and poured wine is very clearly decanted because the tannins are softer; which is what many expect from decanting young wines. Wine chemistry does not support that argument.

My advice would be to do you own blind comparison and see if you can tell the difference between pop and pour and decanted before decanting every wine you open.

Mike

[Scotty vino]

Thanks for responses. Seems like it's definitely not just a simple numbers game.
Funny, 'cause the guy at Dan's seemed very confident with his decanting formula.

What about those pop in wine filters? Do they compromise flavour by filtering off all the sediment?

[Polymer]

Decanting can be a bit tricky but..

With young wines, you are not likely to do anything bad decanting..you might not be able to tell the difference but it will be rare where you actually kill a wine decanting it...

With older wines it gets far trickier...you might just end up missing the high point of the wine..it might actually just die because it got too much air...sometimes an older wine needs that jolt of oxygen to get going but from that point on, you don't know how quickly it'll change.

Personally I tend to like watching a wine evolve in a glass...with other forms of giving a wine oxygen generally only if there isn't that type of time...

[rens]

Thanks for responses. Seems like it's definitely not just a simple numbers game.
Funny, 'cause the guy at Dan's seemed very confident with his decanting formula.

What about those pop in wine filters? Do they compromise flavour by filtering off all the sediment?

As far as the filter goes, I use it on all my cellared wines (appart from whites and Pinot). I don't like grit in my wine. However saying that I know of a few on this forum who like to experience all of the wine and don't mind the feeling of drinking sand with their last glass.

[AndrewCowley]

Thanks for responses. Seems like it's definitely not just a simple numbers game.
Funny, 'cause the guy at Dan's seemed very confident with his decanting formula.

What about those pop in wine filters? Do they compromise flavour by filtering off all the sediment?

As far as the filter goes, I use it on all my cellared wines (appart from whites and Pinot). I don't like grit in my wine. However saying that I know of a few on this forum who like to experience all of the wine and don't mind the feeling of drinking sand with their last glass.

Do you have a link to the filter you use? Is it just a filter or does it aerate the wine as well?

[rens]

Thanks for responses. Seems like it's definitely not just a simple numbers game.
Funny, 'cause the guy at Dan's seemed very confident with his decanting formula.

What about those pop in wine filters? Do they compromise flavour by filtering off all the sediment?

As far as the filter goes, I use it on all my cellared wines (appart from whites and Pinot). I don't like grit in my wine. However saying that I know of a few on this forum who like to experience all of the wine and don't mind the feeling of drinking sand with their last glass.

Do you have a link to the filter you use? Is it just a filter or does it aerate the wine as well?

I use one of these:
http://image.become.com/imageserver/s5/ ... funnel.jpg
If you look carefully it is a wine shower with an insert that is a filter. The filter is very fine and no sediment gets through. You can put the filter into the funnel or use it without the funnel. Both also fit snugly into the top of my decanter.
The only issue I have with this is if there is a lot of sediment stirred up in the wine it can block the filter, and you need to clean it and then continue. However leaving the bottle upright for an hour and decanting slowly makes for no issue.

[Michael McNally]

As far as the filter goes, I use it on all my cellared wines (appart from whites and Pinot). I don't like grit in my wine. However saying that I know of a few on this forum who like to experience all of the wine and don't mind the feeling of drinking sand with their last glass.

Sediment is just wine in a semi-solid form. What's not to like? Okay, Rick Burge probably goes a little overboard by throwing in stems and leaves for posterity, but it provides character!

Cheers

Michael

[rens]

As far as the filter goes, I use it on all my cellared wines (appart from whites and Pinot). I don't like grit in my wine. However saying that I know of a few on this forum who like to experience all of the wine and don't mind the feeling of drinking sand with their last glass.

Sediment is just wine in a semi-solid form. What's not to like? Okay, Rick Burge probably goes a little overboard by throwing in stems and leaves for posterity, but it provides character!

Cheers

Michael

Was it that obvious that I was talking about you?

[dave vino]

Michael, we should introduce Rens to Noon Solaire or similar (after we hide his filter) we might put some hairs on his chest yet....

Am up your way over New Year we should organise a get together.

[Michael McNally]

Sounds like a plan. When are you up? I am here from the 28th of Dec to the 5th of Jan.

At that time restaurants are likely to be closed or booked out. If it is something small, I am happy to have it at my place.

Any other brisbanites around/available?

Will start another thread is there is generalised interest.

Cheers

Michael

[redstuff]

Sounds good Michael. Although if we book now there should be something available
I can't do Jan 4 at this stage.

[ticklenow1]

Sounds like a plan. When are you up? I am here from the 28th of Dec to the 5th of Jan.

At that time restaurants are likely to be closed or booked out. If it is something small, I am happy to have it at my place.

Any other brisbanites around/available?

Will start another thread is there is generalised interest.

Cheers

Michael

I'm off until the 10th of Jan, so would be keen for a glass or two or.......

Merry Christmas to all forumites and may 2013 bring many nice wines and plenty of good corks

Cheers
Ian

[dave vino]

I'm driving up on the 30th and then staying for about 4 days and then meandering back down to Sydney with a few stop offs.

So can be like a NYE Lunch? New Years day luncheon? Or I could come up a day earlier and do something on the 30th?

[rens]

I'm only off until the 2nd. Naturally I'm very busy, but would be happy to squeeze in an offline if the opportunity arose.
(sorry for hijacking the thread)

[AndrewCowley]

Here's a question...

Sometimes it's just more convenient to serve wine from bottles. Other times, say for instance you are planning a session involving multiple wines that need decanting, one simply doesn't have enough decanters. In these cases, what is the comparison between time in a proper decanter vs pouring the wine out (maybe into a decanter) and then pouring it back into the bottle? Does that even count at all as a decant? Is 1 hour in a bottle like this remotely comparable to 1 hour in a proper decanter?

[Polymer]

A lot of time you can get a pretty good decant by double decanting..

Also, a lot of people believe is slow O...so just opening the bottle, taking a small bit out and leaving it as is..some people swear by it.

[Waiters Friend]

Here's a question...

Sometimes it's just more convenient to serve wine from bottles. Other times, say for instance you are planning a session involving multiple wines that need decanting, one simply doesn't have enough decanters. In these cases, what is the comparison between time in a proper decanter vs pouring the wine out (maybe into a decanter) and then pouring it back into the bottle? Does that even count at all as a decant? Is 1 hour in a bottle like this remotely comparable to 1 hour in a proper decanter?

Double decanting is definitely the answer when you don't have enough decanters. However, you're right in that you are reducing the surface area available when you return it to the bottle. So, an hour spent followign a double decant is probably not the equivalent of an hour in the decanter......... but it is definitely a big step in the right direction, as you have aerated the wine teice, rather than once.

[daz]

Age is a factor when decanting, double or no

[Michael McNally]

I'm only off until the 2nd. Naturally I'm very busy, but would be happy to squeeze in an offline if the opportunity arose.
(sorry for hijacking the thread)

I am sorry I went MIA. Family health matters have arisen. Have to be another time.

Cheers

Michael