How to decant a wine?

Some wines deserve to be decanted to release their aromas before being tasted. You can try the experiment yourself: open a bottle, pour yourself a glass of wine, and smell it.

Swirl it around, then smell it again. If you notice a heightened presence of aromas, it means it’s best to decant it. For this, use a very wide decanter so that the wine can oxygenate and release as many aromas as possible.

Take the bottle of wine and pour it into the decanter. The wine will then flow across the decanter. Once the bottle is empty, you’ll notice that the wine’s disc is much wider, since it’s less confined than in the bottle and therefore more oxygenated. All that’s left is to pour yourself a glass. Cheers!

Which wines benefit from decanting, and which never should?

Young, tannic or oaky reds benefit most from decanting: Rhône Syrah, Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon, Cahors Malbec, Madiran. An hour of air rounds off what youth leaves angular.

Same cure for a "reduced" red that smells of struck match or rubber when opened: the smell usually fades with air. Barrel-aged Chardonnay, Chenin, Rhône whites or a reduced natural wine gain too.

Your fragile old wines, no: with sediment, pour them gently off it, without aerating; without, serve straight from the bottle. Rosés and light whites, sparkling wines, air-aged tawny fortified wines: nothing to gain.

Red, white or old wine: how long in the decanter?

Half an hour to two hours for a young red, a few minutes for an old one: the Guide Hachette des Vins range, a guideline, not a rule. A tannic full-bodied red sits at the top, a supple red at the bottom.

Young, powerful red: 1 to 2 hours.

Supple red: 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Rich white: 30 minutes to 1 hour, decanter kept cool.

Reduced natural wine: 30 minutes to 1 hour, tasting regularly.

Old wine: a few minutes, poured off any sediment, or straight from the bottle.

Use the glass test described above: once the nose opens, serve.

How to decant wine: which decanter and what technique?

A wide base to aerate a young wine, a narrow neck for an old one: the surface offered to the air makes the difference. The long, barely flared "duck" decanter spares an old red.

Pour from a fair height, in a steady stream down the side. The decanter should be at serving temperature: neither dishwasher-warm nor ice-cold for a red, chilled for a white.

Sommeliers also practise double decanting: the wine goes into the decanter, then back into its rinsed bottle to be served with its label. It opens a closed wine fast.

How do you aerate wine without a decanter?

A large glass does most of the work: fill it a third and swirl, each turn renews the surface exposed to air. On a young red, a few minutes suffice.

A pour-through aerator, the spout on the neck that mixes air into the wine as it flows, works at once: fine for a young wine at short notice, not an old one.

The blender is a curiosity: thirty seconds at full power, American physicist Nathan Myhrvold's hyperdecanting (Modernist Cuisine), for a rustic red only. Opening the bottle two hours ahead changes little: the neck lets air touch a coin's worth of wine.

Which mistakes ruin a wine in the decanter?

The first: treating an old wine as a young one. Past twenty years, a red can lose its bouquet in half an hour of air: without sediment, serve from the bottle; with, pour it off gently and drink at once.

Forgetting the decanter until evening flattens the wine: the fruit fades. A decanter that smells of cupboard or washing-up liquid taints the wine within minutes: sniff it empty before pouring.

Decanting a corked wine will not save it: damp cardboard does not evaporate. For the Union des Maisons de Champagne, a carafe reduces effervescence: sommeliers who do it on a young champagne, to refine the bubble, are the exception.

FAQ - Decanting wine by type

Should you decant a magnum?

Yes for a young red, a little longer than a standard bottle. Under a same-sized cork, a magnum holds twice the wine: it evolves more slowly and often shows more closed at the same age. No 1.5-litre decanter? Split it between two.

Can you decant into a jug or a water bottle?

Yes, in a pinch: what counts is the pour and the width of the vessel, not the crystal. A wide jug or a glass salad bowl do the job; a narrow-necked water bottle, far less. One requirement: clean glass that smells of nothing.

Does a natural wine always need decanting?

No. A natural wine is decanted if it smells reduced on opening, or prickles the tongue with fermentation gas the winemaker kept; clean in the glass, serve it as is. Without added sulphur it can tire quickly: taste every quarter hour, stop once the nose is clean.

What do you do with wine left in the decanter after the meal?

A young, full-bodied red can spend the night in the decanter, covered and cool, to finish the next day. Any other wine goes back into a corked bottle in your fridge door; the fuller the bottle, the better it keeps. An old wine will not last that long.

Should you decant a Pinot Noir?

Rarely, and briefly. On regional Burgundy appellations, Pinot Noir copes poorly with oxidation, as does a light or mature Grenache. On a young, closed red Burgundy, aerate in the glass or allow a short spell in a narrow decanter. A mature Pinot Noir without sediment goes straight from the bottle.