For The Love Of Port

Do you prefer to single decant (pour your Port directly into a decanter, filtering out sediment and allowing aeration) or double decanting which is the same but then adds pouring the Port back into its original bottle?

Anything else you'd like to tell us about the way you prefer to decant ... or questions you may have?

That is why it is called, Port Basics ... so we can all learn together.

More often than not I double decant, mostly because I only have one good decanter...so unless its a single bottle for me usually it goes back in. Not enough empirical evidence to know which is better/worse/the effect, etc.

I drink a lot more tawny than ruby, and those don't (typically) need decanting at all. I'll sometimes open the bottle a few hours before serving, though.

When I do decant it's generally just a normal decant. I only double decant when I need to decant more bottles than I have decanters, which isn't often, or when I need to decant a Port and then take it somewhere else. I only have 2 decanters, but I also have a couple of glass water pitchers that work just fine for decanting and have been known to fill in as decanters from time to time.

Just once. I have both muslin and and cheese cloth, but the muslin I bought is too fine for port. It works fine for dry wine. I do not use a funnel and push the cheese cloth into the decanter. If the decanter is too narrow, then I will use a funnel.

To date, I have not had a need to double decant. But, I remain open to the possibility that I would run out of decanters at some future tasting event

-- Gary

Despite the beauty of wine in a decanter, I usually prefer to serve Ports and other wines from the original bottle. I almost always use the funnel/filter/cheesecloth method for decanting into the decanter; then if I feel the wine needs more rapid aeration than it can get in the bottle, I'll leave it in the decanter as long as necessary, but eventually I pour it back into the cleaned original bottle for service.

I single decant VP and unfiltered LBV. I've only double decanted when I taking a bottle to someone else's house.

Daniel R. wrote:I single decant VP and unfiltered LBV. I've only double decanted when I taking a bottle to someone else's house.

+1

I double decant into the original bottle only if I want to serve in the original. Otherwise I just single decant and let give it time. Old Madeira aficianados would say you're "bruising" the wine otherwise.

Some years ago I purchased in Rome, Italy, a metal sieve with a tight "mesh" so that most sediments are being collected in the sieve. After that I always pour a half test-glass in order to check the sediments etc. Sometimes I must make a second decanting, but rather seldom.

I prefer to serve the port in the decanter, but placing the bottle next to the decanter on the table. By that way those who are part of drinking the port can enjoy the colour / volume of the port, and at the same time look at / study the bottle. Both family and guests find that to be an interesting combination, and very often that leads to more questions abt the port, the producer, the vintage etc.

Rune EG

Rune,

That must be some incredibly tight mesh if it can capture even the fine sediment that can often times cloud a wine. But it is not like the sediment is going to hurt you.

Hi Roy!
Yes, the metal mesh is quite tight, so I decant slowly.
I did write: "most sediments are being collected in the sieve" and "Sometimes I must make a second decanting, but rather seldom".
The very, very small sediments are still there, but they are not bothering me being so small.

Rune EG