While decanting my bottle of Dow 1997 this morning ahead of tonight's celebrations, I got to wondering...
1. Should I incline the decanter and let the magic juice pour gently down the glass on the inside, or should I hold the decanter vertically and let it have a good splash as it hits the glass at the bottom. On the one hand, you'd think that a good splash would increase the aeration but on the other, does it in anyway damage/spoil the wine?
2. If I put the stopper in the decater, will this in any way affect the aeration? On the one hand, I don't want any dead flies in the juice when I get home this evening but then on the other, should some fresh air be allowed into the decanter?
All contributions gratefully received, especially on the 'splashing' issue.
Decanting technique
Moderators: Glenn E., Roy Hersh, Andy Velebil
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Philip Harvey
- Posts: 114
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- Location: Poole, United Kingdom - UK
Philip
I've never done a comparison of the same wine decanted in the two different ways so I can't comment from personal experience, I'll just fall back onto some reasonable logic.
If you look at older, traditional decanting funnels, many of these have stems that have a corner at the bottom. Using one of these in the neck of a decanter would cause the wine to run down the side of the decanter rather than run into the centre of the wine and splash around a lot. Perhaps this design is a fashion statement or perhaps it is based on old, empirical learning.
When a butler is trained to decant wine, he (or she these days) is trained to pour the wine from the bottle in such a way as to ensure that it runs down the side of the decanter or jug into which it is being poured. Again, I don't know if this is based on historic knowledge or just ponciness. (Does anyone know what today's sommeliers are taught?)
One observation strikes me. If you pour wine down the side of a container then it tends to spread out more than if you pour in a single stream into the centre of the decanter. Perhaps this increases the amount of surface contact bewteen the wine and the air as you decant compared to the splashing effect of pouring wine into the centre of the decanter.
I've also read articles in the past which have spoken about wines being "bruised" through being shaken too much in the bottle. I've never noticed this effect myself, but if its true then pouring down the side of a container would avoid any risk of bruising the wine by vigorous splashing.
But on the other hand, perhaps some of the young and monstrous wines that Roy has been tasting recently could have done with a good shake to aerate them and tenderize them before he drank them. Maybe the rule to follow is that if the wine you are drinking is old and venerable then get your butler to decant it carefully down the side of your decanter but if its a young, tannic fruit bomb then give the bottle a good shake before emtying it into the centre of your decanter with as much splashing as possible.
The stopper question is much easier - it makes no discernable difference to the rate at which the wine develops whether the stopper is left in the decanter or not. In a normal decanter there is so much air that the port can develop nicely with what is in the decanter and does not need to have fresh air bellowed in periodically. Better to keep the spiders, flies and children out of the decanter by putting the stopper in and leaving it on the top shelf of the bookcase than to risk contamination of nature's essence.
Good post, nicely thought provoking!
Alex
I've never done a comparison of the same wine decanted in the two different ways so I can't comment from personal experience, I'll just fall back onto some reasonable logic.
If you look at older, traditional decanting funnels, many of these have stems that have a corner at the bottom. Using one of these in the neck of a decanter would cause the wine to run down the side of the decanter rather than run into the centre of the wine and splash around a lot. Perhaps this design is a fashion statement or perhaps it is based on old, empirical learning.
When a butler is trained to decant wine, he (or she these days) is trained to pour the wine from the bottle in such a way as to ensure that it runs down the side of the decanter or jug into which it is being poured. Again, I don't know if this is based on historic knowledge or just ponciness. (Does anyone know what today's sommeliers are taught?)
One observation strikes me. If you pour wine down the side of a container then it tends to spread out more than if you pour in a single stream into the centre of the decanter. Perhaps this increases the amount of surface contact bewteen the wine and the air as you decant compared to the splashing effect of pouring wine into the centre of the decanter.
I've also read articles in the past which have spoken about wines being "bruised" through being shaken too much in the bottle. I've never noticed this effect myself, but if its true then pouring down the side of a container would avoid any risk of bruising the wine by vigorous splashing.
But on the other hand, perhaps some of the young and monstrous wines that Roy has been tasting recently could have done with a good shake to aerate them and tenderize them before he drank them. Maybe the rule to follow is that if the wine you are drinking is old and venerable then get your butler to decant it carefully down the side of your decanter but if its a young, tannic fruit bomb then give the bottle a good shake before emtying it into the centre of your decanter with as much splashing as possible.
The stopper question is much easier - it makes no discernable difference to the rate at which the wine develops whether the stopper is left in the decanter or not. In a normal decanter there is so much air that the port can develop nicely with what is in the decanter and does not need to have fresh air bellowed in periodically. Better to keep the spiders, flies and children out of the decanter by putting the stopper in and leaving it on the top shelf of the bookcase than to risk contamination of nature's essence.
Good post, nicely thought provoking!
Alex
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Tom Archer
- Posts: 2790
- Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:09 pm
- Location: Near Saffron Walden, England
If you hav'nt already got one, invest in a wine decanting funnel with a gauze filter.
You can get a very practical one for £12.95 from wineware:
http://www.wineware.co.uk/Wine-Funnels/Aerators-1.htm
Tom
You can get a very practical one for £12.95 from wineware:
http://www.wineware.co.uk/Wine-Funnels/Aerators-1.htm
Tom
- are you losing your marbles old man? :joker: -
Andy Velebil
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- Location: Los Angeles, California, United States of America - USA
- Contact:
Alex gave sound advice so I'll just add a thought or two of my own.
I too have never done a side-by-side comparison of the two techniques. However, I would agree that the best way is to let it run down the side of the decanter. My feeling is this; you would not shake a bottle before you opened it, so why do worse when pouring it into a decanter.
Now, I have seen on other wine forums people who "splash decant" a very young and tight dry wine. The claim is that it helps to open it up. Not sure I agree with that, but to each his (or her, Derek
) own. As for me I'll stick to the less violent approach. After all the idea is to expose it to air and let it breath over time, not beat the daylights out of it.
(Here I go thinking out loud again...dangerous, I know) Is splash decanting or other more violent approaches to decanting a relatively newer thing. Say in the past 10 or 15 years. If so, I was wondering if it is a product of todays fast-paced, I want it now, mentality. Where as years ago people were in less of a frenzied hurry and they took the time to age their wines and then allowed a proper amount of decant time before drinking.
The notion of "bruising" a wine, total rubbish I say! Never seen a bottle yet with bruises on it
I too have never done a side-by-side comparison of the two techniques. However, I would agree that the best way is to let it run down the side of the decanter. My feeling is this; you would not shake a bottle before you opened it, so why do worse when pouring it into a decanter.
Now, I have seen on other wine forums people who "splash decant" a very young and tight dry wine. The claim is that it helps to open it up. Not sure I agree with that, but to each his (or her, Derek
) own. As for me I'll stick to the less violent approach. After all the idea is to expose it to air and let it breath over time, not beat the daylights out of it.(Here I go thinking out loud again...dangerous, I know) Is splash decanting or other more violent approaches to decanting a relatively newer thing. Say in the past 10 or 15 years. If so, I was wondering if it is a product of todays fast-paced, I want it now, mentality. Where as years ago people were in less of a frenzied hurry and they took the time to age their wines and then allowed a proper amount of decant time before drinking.
The notion of "bruising" a wine, total rubbish I say! Never seen a bottle yet with bruises on it
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com