To Decant or Not to Decant

[Craig Camp]

I have found many wines that can stand decanting and many that can't. Some wines are better at dinner than they were at lunch - sometimes even from lunch the day before. Other wines taste oxidized much faster. There does not always seem to be a relationship to the varietal, fame or cost of the wine.

There is a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from La Valentina ($9) that tastes the same after being open for days. I have tasted many Baroli that taste washed out after only being open overnight - and others that need 24 hours just to wake up.

I think it is impossible to make blanket statements about decanting times.

[ctgm]

Craig,

Totally agree with you that there is no set pattern.

My father has some 19th century Bordeaux and when we very occassionaly have a bottle we do not bother decanting it. It is lovely for 5 minutes before the air gets to it and kills it. However I was talking to a wine journalist some years back who was given 2 bottles of 19thC wine (I think it could have been Latour) and the wine's owner told him to decant it the day before. The journo didn't believe that this was the best course of action so decanted 1 of the bottles the day before and the other an hour or two before drinking. Lo and behold the one decanted the day before was by far the better.

I had a Haut Brion 1979 the other day, which when decanted 2 hours before dinner really did not show well. We had it for lunch the next day and it was showing much more rounded (albeit it is a tired wine).

One of the better wines that I sell is a 2000 & 2001 Vin de Table from Domaine La Bouissiere (really it is declassified Gigondas with some merlot in as well as VDQS Grenache). Both vintages improve in the decanter over 3 days but to be honest it is no better than leaving it in the bottle for 3 days.

Out of interest why/how did decanting come about. Was it primarily to aerate the wine or was it just to take it off it's sediment? Or is it even more simple and that in days gone by one had a barrel and just drew off a decanter of what was needed.

[Sparkitus]

The advice I have been given, which I think is sound, is to taste the wine first and determine whether or not it can stand up to decanting - especially necessary for all those pesky 100-plus year old bottles hanging around at dinnertime. Personally, I think decanting of wines less than 10 years old is overdone, although I also have an example of a simple little $10 country wine that needs to be opened 2 days ahead of time...

My rule of thumb in the restaurant is that 1) if it is a point of service - a chance to wow the guest or make them feel taken care of - then I will decant anything they want including whites, and 2) other than wines that I know to throw sediment, I will just automatically decant anything from 7 to 10 years old or older, especially dark, tannic reds, so they will be at least more enjoyable by the time the entree arrives.