DECANTING WINE
WILLIAMSON WINE APPRECIATION
Should You Decant the Wine?
Taste first. Then decide what the bottle needs.
A decanter can separate an older wine from its sediment or give a young wine enough air to reveal itself. The trick is knowing which job you are asking it to do.
DISCUSSIONS WITH BILL WILLIAMSON
Two Reasons to Decant
To Leave Sediment Behind
Mature, traditionally made and unfiltered wines may develop a harmless deposit in the bottle. It does no damage, but it can look cloudy and feel gritty. Careful decanting leaves that sediment in the bottle and the clear wine on the table.
To Give the Wine Air
A young, structured wine may seem quiet or tightly wound when first opened. Measured exposure to air can make its aromas easier to perceive and its texture more generous. It is an invitation, not a guarantee—which is why we taste first.
BEFORE YOU POUR
Let the Wine Make Its Case
Open the bottle and pour a small glass. This gives you the first taste and creates a little more surface area inside the bottle.
If the wine is fragrant, balanced and already delicious, there may be no reason to decant it. Pour it and enjoy it.
If it seems muted, tightly structured or slightly reduced, transfer it to a clean decanter. Taste it again after fifteen or twenty minutes. Keep checking rather than trusting the clock.
The reliable rule: air does not automatically improve wine. It changes wine, and the glass will tell you whether that change is useful.
A STEADY HAND
How to Decant
- If an older bottle contains sediment, stand it upright for several hours—or overnight—before opening.
- Use a spotless, odor-free decanter and remove the capsule from the bottle so the neck remains visible.
- Wipe the bottle neck and pour slowly in one continuous movement, allowing the wine to run gently down the inside of the decanter.
- Hold a light behind the shoulder of the bottle. When sediment begins to approach the neck, stop pouring.
- Leave the final cloudy portion in the bottle. A small sacrifice is better than a decanter full of sediment.
Place the original bottle beside the decanter. Your guests can see what they are drinking, and a handsome label still deserves its place at the table.
TIME AND AIR
Different Wines Need Different Treatment
Young, Structured Reds
Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux-style blends, Malbec and Syrah can often benefit from a measured period in a decanter. Begin with twenty or thirty minutes, then taste again.
Mature Wines
Older wines can be wonderfully expressive and rather fragile. Decant them at the time of service when sediment requires it, then follow their development closely in the glass.
Pinot Noir and Burgundy Styles
Begin with the glass. Delicate aromatics can disappear with prolonged exposure, particularly in an older bottle. Give the wine only as much air as the wine requests.
Decanting times are guides, never appointments. The vintage, age, storage and individual bottle all have a vote.
SEDIMENT IS NATURAL
Leave It in the Bottle
Sediment is common in mature wines and in wines that have not been heavily filtered. It may include pigments, tannins and natural crystals that have settled during bottle aging.
It is harmless, but it is not pleasant between the teeth. Do not disturb it by shaking the bottle, and do not pour the final portion through a coffee filter. Pour slowly and stop when the deposit reaches the shoulder of the bottle.
DECANTER OR AERATOR
Why We Prefer the Decanter
An aerator forces immediate air into the wine. That can be useful when a youthful, robust red needs encouragement and dinner is already on the table.
A decanter gives us more control. We can taste the wine before pouring, observe it as it opens and serve it without forcing the process. For mature or delicate bottles, that restraint matters.
This has nothing to do with the price of the wine. It has everything to do with paying attention to what is in the bottle.
SIMPLE WORKS BEST
Choosing and Cleaning a Decanter
Choose for the Table
We favor a plain, clear decanter that shows the color of the wine, pours without dripping and can be cleaned without an engineering degree. Crystal is handsome, but clarity and practical form matter more than decoration.
Clean Without Perfume
Rinse the decanter promptly with warm water. If more cleaning is required, use a small amount of unscented detergent and rinse thoroughly. Allow it to drain and dry where no kitchen aromas can find their way inside.
WINE BELONGS AT THE TABLE
Open the Bottle. Taste It. Then Decide.
Decanting is not a performance or an obligation. It is simply one more way to help a good bottle arrive at the table ready for the food, the company and the conversation.