The Auswine Forum

My understanding is everyone has different preferences for whether they decant a wine or not, and if so, how long to decant it for prior to drinking.

I appreciate it will vary depending on the variety, quality and age of the wine, amongst other things.

Really keen to hear what (if any) general rules you follow which help bring the best out of your wines, both old and new?

And apologies if I’m doing a topic that’s been done to death…

Cheers Ed

If i was to open a young Sami-Odi or the like, then open the cork the day before serving, and let it air for 24 hours. You can decant at the same time, but I prefer not to

For older wines with a lot is sediment, stand up for a few days, open an hour before serving and decant it to remove the sediment. I usually pour back into the bottle, but that’s that’s just me.

If it was middle aged with a lot of sediment then I’d decant a few hours before hand and let it stay in the decanter. I’d pour back into the bottle just before serving

If there is not a lot of sediment then I prefer now just to let the wine stand.

Very timely Ed...just decanted a 2022 Wynns BL Cab... will give it an hour before a rib eye.
Inky black and smells delicious.
Cheers Craig

I am still lost about whether to decant or not, but my overwhelming observation from reading tasting notes is “tasted better on the second night”, or even the third night. From my own experiences this applies more so to Cabernets and blends than Shiraz and Pinots.
But to me it is still a mystical art form that I will never quite understand.

I don’t often drink young wines. I have a cellar that has thousands of wines needing drinking. Not all urgently. But I do need to get cracking. So every night when home I’ll share an old bottle.

I decant firstly for sediment removal. Almost every time unless the risk is too high. That risk would come from the delicate nature of a 30 plus year old wine. So anything say seventies and earlier; although time moves on and I probably should adjust a decade forward or so!

To the point of decanting for sediment removal only, I have what I call half decanters. Never seen them anywhere other than the Czech Republic and I’m glad I brought a couple home. There’s no air-space so these decanter styles are perfect for sediment removal only. Often, I’ve felt a bit more air would have helped by using a normal decanter even with older wines so it’s all guess work.

A normal decant with an adolescent to mature wine is more art, precedents and experience, rather than science. Some wines are dead giveaways by just nosing through the neck space- 1998 to 2001 Wendouree of late great examples. Obviously the region and grape variety comes into play. Bordeaux blends seem very comfortable in the decanter. Nebbiolo is alchemy and beyond this conversation. Shiraz at 20 years plus requires caution however if the wine consumed with a group versus sitting for four hours and shared between two, there’s less concern.

Last point is do you know the wine? If you have a case or six pack of something you’ve been consuming over the years you’ll have unbeatable personal knowledge of where the wine probably is.

I’ve seen big opinions on decanting from big wine personalities the world over. It’s a personal choice and although a brutal aeration isn’t a good idea and many wines lost this way, the pop and pour only zealots, couldn’t have it further wrong in my opinion- and yes I never decant adolescent to mature Burgundy and I’m well prepared for debate on Nebbiolo.

Hacker wrote: ↑Sat Aug 24, 2024 9:38 pm But to me it is still a mystical art form that I will never quite understand.

That's a rather healthy perspective on it Don't expect that view to change much over time.

I've encountered different results for sure, and that's when I've given it some attention.

There are plenty of decent reasons to decant, including:
- Decanting off the sediment, especially for wines such as Pinot Noir / Nebbiolo, where the sediment can be very fine
- You mangled the cork trying to get it out, and the decanter is used (with a mesh filter) to get the cork bits out
- The (young) wine seems tight and uninteresting on opening, so what's to lose in giving it a slosh in the decanter
- The old wine seems a bit of a mess, so what's to lose in giving it a gentle aeration in the decanter
- You want to give a friend a blind tasting challenge
- You've bought a fancy decanter & want to show it off

This topic was done to death on a FB group recently, which seemed to have posts every second day along the lines of "what would you recommend in terms of decanting this wine blah blah"

For me there are no hard and fast rules, but I think some guidelines are reasonable. I tend to drink older wines for a start, probably more cabernets and cab blends than others. There may be some young mid week quaffers which I don't normally bother decanting. I don't drink a lot of Italian wine, I guess I've left it too late to get into the three "B's" and other areas. I can only admire Jamie's comments about the mysteries of Nebbiolo. I do drink a bit of Bordeaux and Burgundy, and always find that these wines evolve in the glass far more than Australian reds, especially burgundy. To enjoy this aspect, you need to be careful with decanting. Almost agree with Jamie about not decanting burgundies, they can be magical to see how they change in the glass over an hour or so, but I would probably normally decant them, carefully.

Back to the guidelines. Firstly always open and taste the wine before serving to check whether there are ay faults. Almost always decant if you think there will be a sediment issue. If it's a robust younger wine, then pour it into the decanter 2-3 hours before hand, if it's a medium age robust wine, then perhaps decant carefully 1-2 hours before.If it's a lighter style, eg Australian pinot, then I probably wouldn't decant. If it's an older wine, then limit any decanting till just before serving.

Sometimes, double decanting is the go, for example if you are going to a byo restaurant. Normally I don't double decant at home, although a couple of weeks ago, I had so many wines at a couple of tastings that I almost ran out of decanters (I said almost ), so I double decanted a couple of them.

Anyway, that's sort of what I follow. YMMV.

Thanks for all the responses. A mixed bag in someways.

My cellar isn’t as old and extensive as many here, so it’s rare that I’m drinking something from the 80’s, but definitely have a few bottles from the 90’s which I assume are now starting to get into the “light decant for sediment” stage.

I’ve been doing a lot more pop and pour and leave in the bottle over day two / day three and see how it evolves with younger wine (<5 years old) and am usually decanting stuff in the 5-20 year old bracket, with a glass usually poured quickly and then enjoying a few more over a few hours.

Don’t have much Pinot or Burgundy, or Italian wine, so not an issue for me there.

Cheers Ed

I find the younger the wine the more time in decanter is needed. The difference between a just opened bottle and 2-3 hours decanted can be significant. After breaking heaps of expensive crystal decanters I use a cheap $10 pressed glass one that works well; very wide flat base. Washing up after a big night can be problematic. For older wines it's a tough gig. Too much air and the wine can fall over quickly. Too little and the last glass is great leaving you wondering. I always go back to a memorable night at The Grange restaurant in Adelaide around 2000. Brought along a Penfolds Bin 620 (1966?) and an 89 Grange as a backup. The 620 was suspect with the cork easily depressed into the bottle. Decanted. It appeared stuffed so put aside. Ended up sharing the Grange with the table next door who had something equally impressive. After about 2-3 hours we decided to revisit the 620 which was simply stunning. Bottom line for me is decanting older wines is a tough gig with some luck involved to hit the sweet spot.

And yes; in those days The Grange accepted BYO.

Father’s Day gift from my daughter. She went to my cellar and stood up a 92 HofG & Mt Ed and asked me to teach her how to decant them.

Will use half decanters for both.

How were they drinking Jamie?

And I guess given the topic, how long did you decant before drinking?

I received a Coravin today… might be able to give away decanting.

Cheers Ed

Being 30 years old I decanted for sediment separation only. I used half decanters which have little headspace for air. So in effect, pop and pour. HofG 92 was humming and commanding versus a MtEd 95 in a beautiful ethereal moment as it begins its ride down the other side of the maturation slope.

I still have two unopened boxes of 94 MtEd and 3 94 HofG. I’ve a few Henschke events overseas I’ll drink them up in.

As reds age, some will yield a crystalline (bi-tartrate) deposit if they haven't been cold stabilized, but all will produce a fine, inky, pigment sediment. Colour is basically anthocyanins (a form of tannin) that with age form long-chain molecules that eventually drop out of solution, especially in old V ports but also in many full-bodied, aged reds. This inky sediment naturally is quite bitter, so if you don't stand and carefully decant older reds ( say 5 years plus ) you will inevitably mix it back into the wine when the bottle is poured into 5 or 6 glasses. Yuk, I say.
When to decant has been discussed at length, so I won't add much except to say that don't forget a nice (larger) red glass can bring an aged red up to peak with gentle swirling at the table. I often decant special, very old reds while entree palates are being cleared; take the decanter to the table and pour into some decent glassware and let the wine come up in the glass. Have another red on the go, to take the pressure off the old red, which can be enjoyed with some cheese later if still opening up.
Youthful and/or robust reds I'll open at 9 or 10 in the morning, for dinner serving. Happy decanting.
PS: a good torch of say 1200 lumens helps, especially with Portuguese and heavily tinted bottles.

Opened a 2014 wendouree Shiraz on satdee evening poured into a conical flask . Left for about 30 mins -1 hour . Back into bottle and off to dinner. Opened again prob 45 mins later and it was drinking beautifully.

On pouring adolescent to old wines, definitely stand up and the longer the better. I always have a section of my cellar where a bunch of wine standing waiting for occasion. I always funnel my wines through Japanese green tea filter bags to catch any sediment missed. Always seems to be a very small and fine amount. The torch is great, I couldn’t be assed and seem to have developed the finesse to get to the last big of wine and the tea filter catches sediment from a lazy pour. I drink mostly older wine though if a precious bottle I’ll use the torch- with the HOG above I was brave to let my daughter open and decant the wines with a Durand, filter bag and torch. She did a great job and catching the sediment with the torch a buzz for a first time sommelier !