Decanting white wine

[Thraz]

Not too much luck with this question in the Loire thread but it probably belongs here anyway.

How can I decant the occasional white wine and still serve it at the right temperature? Should the wine be decanted at room temperature, then put back in the bottle for some fridge time? Or decanted in the fridge? I can't imagine the latter would really work. Any input from the board experts would be greatly appreciated.

[hotwine]

I can't recall ever having decanted a white wine. Since decanting is intended to aerate the wine and allow any sediment to settle out, I've just not found it necessary. Unlike with reds, I don't deposit a white's bottle in the wine butler beside the dining table, but return it to the fridge from whence it came, jumping up to refill glasses as required during the meal. Would be interested to hear of anyone's experience in decanting whites.

[Innkeeper]

I don't; not even those we've put some age on.

[Kcwhippet]

Have never decanted a white, well maybe just once. I got a SB once that wasn't cold filtered and had some tartrates on the bottom, so decanted through a small sieve. Other than that - never.

[VouvrayHead]

Thraz, I drink a lot of Vouvray and Savernnieres when I can, and I do decant the occasional white.
Rather than leave it out in the decanter or resort to sticking it in the fridge, I simply double decant once or twice.
By pouring semi-violently into the decanter and then in a couple of minutes funnel back into the bottle, the wine gets a lot of air without moving about too much temperature-wise. Of course, I wouldn't recommend this for any wine but something a bit too young a highly acidic (Chenin Blanc being the prime candidate).

[Thraz]

Great, thanks. Actually young savennieres is what I have in mind.

[brappy]

Hmmm.... Reasons I've decanted a white:

1. Tartrate crystal filtration
2. Wine too cold
3. Young wines just off the boat, especially barrel samples that have a tiny amount of spritz. Sit in the decanter for 15 minutes and it blows off.
4. Some heavy burgundies or Cali chards. Actually, the other day decanted a verdejo that was treated like a Chardonnay.
5. Blind tastings where the wine needed to be in "same" bottles.

Any of these essential? No, but certainly does not hurt.

As to the original question: Since white wines tend to open quickly after a decant, chill the wine till its too cold. Take out and decant; let sit for 15 minutes or so and drink......

mark

[TheEngineer]

I do decant the occasional white Burgundy it I have found the wine to be very tight. For example the 2002 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne. It was tight after about 6 hours of air. It would have been better had I double decanted from the start. I'm thinking that if I pull this from the fridge say 15 minutes ahead of time then by the time that it is ready to drink.

[This message has been edited by TheEngineer (edited 11-15-2006).]