Decanting

[Innkeeper]

Most young red wines benefit from decanting or aerating. How long depends on how "closed" they are to begin with. I am always somewhat bemused when folks say things like "it opened up nicely after two hours." What enters my mind is, who has two hours to wait for a wine to open? We drink most of our wine with dinner unless we are entertaining. It is not in my makeup to delay dinner for two hours or tell my guests to sit on their hands for two hours.

So, I just dump most of my reds into a wide mouth decanter and go for it. If it is closed tighter than a drum, and through education usually avoid this, I simply plan on waiting longer before opening another one.