we've all seen it done at one point in our lives, either at a well-wine endowed friend's place or at one of those fancy-schmancy restaurants. The art of decanting wine may seem somewhat strange. Why not just pop and pour your wine from bottle to glass? While decanting may seem like a pretentious oenological lab experiment, it actually serves a couple different purposes.
Decanting's primary purpose is to clarify sediment found in wine. Sediment is unfiltered or long aged reds is made up of dyed tartrate crystals and pigmented tannins from phenolic polymericat though it may look like black sludge, it's tasteless and harmless. Decanting separates this sludge from getting into your glass, making it look more alluring. It also aerates wine. Oxygen is a reactive chemical and pouring wine into a decanter exposes oxygen all around it and through it. For youthful, rich, tannic reds this softens and refines some of the more aggressive tannins. This aeration also releases a wine's bouquet or aromas from bottle aging. However, for long aged wines some think it does this too much and can diffuse its delicate perfume. Additionally, aerating through decanting can free wine from some faulty reduced aromas ( such as hydrogen sulfide which causes an onion-like or rotten egg aroma).
Decanting doesn't just look good. It clarifies wine, releases aromas, softens harsh tannins and can even save wine from faults. For these reasons, decanting may help the greatest beauty of wine to be released.
Decanting wine isn't done just to increase your waiter's tip or let your friend flex his wine guns. Plus you don't have to understand what " mercaptans" or "dyed tartrate crystals" are to discover the virtues of decanting. Next time you open a bottle of a young and tannic or aged red wine, carefully pour it into a decanter or clean flower vase, if you're in a pinch, give it a little time to "breathe" and decide for yourself if it's worth the extra time and dish washing.
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