decant

[calg11]

Hey, New 2 all this. What is the purpose of decanting? Why decant a fine aged wine?

[Innkeeper]

Hi Calg, and welcome to the Wine Board. Most well aged wines need decanting in order to remove it from the sediment that usually occurs during the aging process. Such sediment is usually very fine, so if you don't have a steady hand, you might run the bottom fifth of the bottle through a filter. Some younger wines will through globby sediment this can be caught in a decanter funnel.

The second reason for decanting is to aerate young red wine. Most recently released medium to full bodied reds benefit from this. When decanting for this reason, there is no need to be careful unless that globby stuff is present. Otherwise just glug glug it into a decanter.