Decanting And Aeration
A Primer

To truly appreciate all a wine has to offer, you will need to decant and/or aerate it. Also known as “letting the wine breathe” or “opening up“, it is sometimes amazing how this improves the taste of a newly opened bottle of wine.

Aeration by definition is exposing the wine to oxygen. It releases the aromas of the wine and softens any tannins. Since, your sense of smell is part of the tasting process, this greatly enhances the taste of the wine. There are two ways to aerate. One is in the glass and the other is in a wine decanter.

One way not to aerate is simply opening the bottle and leaving it there. The neck of the bottle is too narrow to be effective.

Some Basics Of Wine Decanting

• The decanter is the bottle with the narrow neck and the very wide bottom. Pour the entire bottle in and then let it sit for a half hour to an hour. Over time, the air inside mixes with the wine and opens it up. The narrow neck then traps the aromas released by the opening up. Wine Enthusiast offers a variety of decanters and accessories.
• It is not necessary to decant all wines - just primarily older full-bodied red wines. Rarely are white wines decanted. I’ve seen that done only once. That is because most white wines do not benefit from it that much. And forget champagne and sparkling wines. You want to keep those bubbles.
• Decanting can remove any sediment that has been sitting at the bottom of the bottle. Many of those older reds will have some sediment. While sediment doesn’t hurt you, it is still unappealing to see it floating in your glass. Trap the sediment by slowly pouring the wine into the decanter through a filter.
• You can also pour your wine into a carafe. They are available in quarter, half, and full bottle sizes. Simply by pouring the bottle into the carafe and again into your glass, your wine will open up a bit. Bad news is that you’ll have to drink all the wine in the carafe since you can’t pour it back into the bottle. On second thought, maybe that’s not so bad.
• Finally, there is a great gadget called a Vinturi wine aerator. Just pour the wine through the aerator into the glass. With a heavy bubbling sound, it instantly mixes air with the wine. Quite effective. For the fun of it, try a sip before pouring through the wine aerator. Then, try a sip afterwards and note the difference. You may be pleasantly shocked.

After You Pour The
Wine Into The Glass

• Simply swirl the wine by grasping the stem and making circular motions with the glass. If you are at or near a table, set the glass down and swirl while keeping the base of the glass on the table. It is easier to do it that way.

  Take care not to swirl too hard to avoid spillage. I’ve done that already and the person next to me was not pleased.

• You can passively aerate simply by letting it sit in the glass for ten minutes or so. You’re not going to chug the wine anyway so you have built in aeration as you casually drink it.

  Actually, I do both swirling and letting it sit. I swirl before every sip. Then I get those aromas every time. I guess I’m a little anal about it but it does work. I even been known to swirl beer. That’s anal! Just a habit I guess.

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