Gary, one of my most favorite episodes. And I took this episode totally to heart. I went out and bought a decanter the next day and I now decant every single wine I drink. And even with cheap wines (but not all REaLLY cheap wines) it makes a huge, huge difference. You are absolutely 100% on target about decanting, which is why I wonder why you don’t do it on WLTV.

I bought the vacu-vin because I was getting tired of dumping my inexpensive reds down the drain the next evening after opening. They didn’t all fall apart within 24 hours, but a significant portion would oxidize after several hours exposure, losing a lot of their flavors. These were the reds that were less than 10 dollars mind you. Then one day I noticed something. After pouring a glass from a bottle of Rhone wine that I had opened the previous evening and re-corked, I expected the wine to be a little worse for the wear. I was stunned. The light fruit and closed tannic wine from the previous evening had evolved into a multi faceted fruit laded beauty with delicious fruit, earth elements, and other flavors that werenâ??t previously evident. So I discovered that oxygen isn’t always the enemy. I later found that if certain wines (usually higher priced to get the necessary quality) had the structure to benefit from exposure to oxygen for more than a few hours, then they would develop into much more enjoyable wines than they were upon first opening. All wines seem to benefit from some decanting, say an hour or so. Other wines would benefit from further exposure say 3-5 hours. And there are a few in my experience that don’t reach there full potential without at least 12+ hours decanting. I still vacu-vin the cheaper reds overnight, but I try to decant every wine I open so I can enjoy the full potential.

Gary,
this is definitely one of my favorite episodes. It really paid off about a month ago when i opened up the 2003 quimera and took a sip and thought it sucked. it tasted like spicy oak and had really bitter dry tannins. I decanted it for two hours and then i was singing your praises for recommending this wine and decanting. Thanks for all you do, and im looking forward to 100!

I was reminded of the importance of decanting last weekend. I opened a bottle of 1999 Beringer Vineyards Merlot Private Reserve Bancroft Ranch, didn’t decant, and started drinking it after only 20 minutes. It didn’t show nearly as well as the previous time I’d had it, and I ended up feeling like I’d wasted what I know could have been a good bottle of wine.

You are right to admonish us that if we want to get serious about wine, we need to invest the time in decanting so it will show its best.

On my reading list:

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The ultimate horror story on decanting:
In the afternoon of February 12, 1968 [my 40th birthday] I decanted a much cherished 40 year old bottle of Ch. Lafitte that my son had come down from college in New Hampshire to share. That bottle had been privately cellared for 39 years by the man who was the Grand Chevalier du Tastevin. It was a disaster.
So much for decanting old wines.

Gary,

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed your video on decanting. You have a great passion for wine, and it truly comes out in your work! On the topic of decanting, I have decanted many wines that seem to collapse after being open too long (3-4 hours), but other wines are just getting going at that point in time. How do we determine which wines need to be decanted longer and which ones need to be consumed within a few hours?

Nathan

Mr. “Bang for your Buck” Vay-ner-chuck,

Where should I keep my decanted wine while waiting for dinner? On the counter in the kitchen (70 degrees F) or on the counter in my cellar (at 55 degrees F)?

Thanx.

Excellent episode. I know I’m catching it late, but I decant almost every red wine I drink. Years ago I decanted a Bordeaux from a case that I bought, expecting a quiet evening dinner at home and when some friends dropped by, we shared the wine and I soon ran down to grab a second bottle. I happen the serendiptous misfortune to drink a glass form the newly opened bottle immediately following one from the decanted one. Proof positive for me.

As far as BYO restaurants go, I learned a trick from the sample master at Heitz Vineyard a few years back. After dropping some big bills on the wines he pulled out a very nice bottle of an older Martha’s Vineyard Cab. I asked, “Shouldn’t a big wine like this breathe for a few hours (days?) before drinking?” He replied, “I had it in the decanter all morning, then poured it back in the bottle.” With the right funnel it’s an easy task to pour the wine back in the bottle and slide the cork back in. (If there’s a lot of sediment, I rinse the bottle and drain it while the wine is breathing.) Try it; you’ll be doing it, too.

I’m a newbie and I’m still confused. I have seen the effects of decanting and their benefits, but I really enjoy my wine at the prime temperatures of 55-60 ish degrees. There have been a number of posts asking what to do but no answers.

Can anyone tell me how best to decant, yet keep the wine at prime temperature? Do I decant, then put it back in the bottle and back in the cellar? Do I just decant in my basement where its colder? I can’t imagine that’s very good for the flavors…

Help!

Actually Scott…keeping it that cold is not gonna do much for the flavors anyway. The 55-60 serving temperature is going to mask some of the flavors in the wine no matter how long you decant. If this is what you truly like, then decant for an hour and throw the whole thing back in the fridge for a while. You could also do the “Gary, Wine Back in the Bottle Trick”. Which is decant for two hours and pour back into the bottle. Then put the bottle in a bottle chiller and BANG, you got your decanted 55 degree bottle!

Gary….

Drifted back through earlier episodes. The Amon Ra caught my eye (might be a pun there somewhere given the label). Anyway, I love Glaetzer’s wines (Mitolo, Godolphin, etc.) and it seems you liked this one as well.

I agree decanting makes a big difference and i try to decant most of my good, young(er) wines. My question is, are there wines that should NOT be decanted?

I just finnished watching about 15 episodes and i have learned so much about
wine that i did not know before. thanx for all you have done for me…
i love you man!!….i am so drunk right now………..

BIRTH OF A VAYNIAC!!!!!! Great Stuff Gary-on the money and about enjoying the wine. I’m glad to know that there are others who are as passionate about wine and get their sensory imaginations kicked into gear when drinking wine. I’ve worked in high end restaraunts in Manhattan off and on for over 15 years-have tasted/described/intoduced/helped choose a loooot of wine with a lot of customers and know the passion and joy you bring to it is what it is all about. Thank You. And it’s a vindication for me for my years of funky analogies, metaphors and descriptions about wines ( I talked one couple into doing a tasting of the Domaine Drouhin Oregon with the Domaine Drouhin Burgundy and they laughed at my description of on being like carpet bombing and the other like a laser guided I.C.B.M., but onced they tried then they totally understood ). And I’ve been talking people in to decanting everything for years- alot of pessimists and then a lot of converts. And its fun when the converts come back and can tell me on their second wine BTG that they know it must be from a new bottle and the first must have been opened late last night.
Whip some age on those Babies with some Air!!!! Get those Aunt Esthers Dancin’!!!! I’m Comin’ Elizbeth!!! ONP

BIRTH OF A VAYNIAC!!!!!! Great Stuff Gary-on the money about enjoying the wine. I’m glad to know that there are others who are as passionate about wine and get their sensory imaginations kicked into gear when drinking wine. I’ve worked in high end restaraunts in Manhattan off and on for over 15 years-have tasted/described/intoduced/helped choose a loooot of wine with a lot of customers and know the passion and joy you bring to it is what it is all about. Thank You!!!!!! And it’s a vindication for me for my years of funky analogies, metaphors and descriptions about wines ( I talked one couple into doing a tasting of the Domaine Drouhin Oregon with the Domaine Drouhin Burgundy and they laughed at my description of on being like carpet bombing and the other like a laser guided I.C.B.M., but onced they tried then they totally understood ). And I’ve been talking people in to decanting everything for years- alot of pessimists and then a lot of converts. It’s fun when the converts come back and can tell me on their second wine BTG that they know it must be from a new bottle and the first must have been opened late last night.
Whip some age on those Babies with some Air!!!! Get those Aunt Esthers Dancin’!!!! I’m Comin’ Elizbeth!!! ONP

I AM NEW TO THE PROGRAM: NICE. DO YOU DECANT WHITE WINES? HOW SAFE IS IT TO DECANT IN DECORATIVE CRYSTAL DECANTERS? THANKS IN ADVANCE. MARYANN

I don’t know if there is any truth to this. comment on cellartracker.com

“The Amon-Ra 05 is close to a 100 point wine. Interestingly enough, there is a story afloat that RP got confused between the Godolphin and the Amon-Ra when he issued his ratings on the 04 wines. Had he got it straight the 04 would have been a three digit wine. The Amon-Ra 05 is very close to that 100 point rating. So very bright because it’s too young, but too good to leave alone to mature.”

I just discovered this website and wow I am impressed. This is better than reading books about wine. Thank you!

Gary,

I love your simplicity and your commitment to wine, of course, one has to decant wines in order to get the most out of them, and you explain it totally. Believe it or not, i was chatting with a friend the other day who had taken wine courses and shw was told by her instructor that decanting has no value and is just a fad. Talk about ignorance at work, she was paying for those courses.. jeez..

Anyway, bravo for your fine work and if you ever come down to Montreal, write me and we shall go and drink a few bottles with some of my buddies and you.

Serge

Gary,

Good Job. Have you ever used the Centellino to decant your wine? I found this product online and actually enjoy it alot. its at http://www.rothschildluxury.com

What do you think?

I’ve been watching the episodes from episode one and moving my way up… by far the BEST episode yet.

Wine as produced by fly by nite wineries will have no response to decantering.
The wine must be cuddled and not shook in the bottle. Decanting wine from bottles only works in volume. To much air will make the yeast in the wine ferment and create a calsio deposit in the grape and forest a over-aged wine.

Pretty stiking the contrast between the two- makes a decanting arguement. Gary a question and a thought:
1. Do you believe that the vacuum wine stoppers do anything more to preserve wine than just popping the cork back in bottle?
2. I’m a cellartracker guy but love the idea of cork’d. Is there anyway to link the two systems so that a saved cellar on cellartracker could also upload onto cork’d?

TO DECANT OR NOT?

People are always looking to â??openâ? their wine quicker with dinner; the practice of decanting is related to this breathing concept. The idea that forced air will somehow make an average wine into something much more seems to be part of the public conscience. With rustic and coarse wines, that may help, but along with taking away that bitter edge you will more than likely loose the primary fruit aromatics and flavor; which will make it easier wine to drink.
The decanting contingent suggests that exposure to air will somehow speed up the maturation. While this is not the same as true ageing, the illusion placates the general public. What they are trying to get to is reductive ageing (without air in the bottle) by the process of oxidative ageing (air contact). Most people, who want this, decant the wine to expose it to air. Some people even choose to use multiple vessels and transfer the liquid back and forth several times to force air into it; not even realizing that they are shocking the wine and volatilizing itâ??s most undesirable elements.
Some evaporation can take place with this method but any real benefit by chemical processes never really takes place. This violent splashing does help for one part of the wine, it can disperse the sulfur in all its forms (SO2, H2S) and even carbon dioxide can get shook out. Wine does not oxidize that quickly, even in the most full and beefy reds; ironically these wines are generally given this treatment.
Controlled studies have been applied to test a diverse cross section of wines, varying in body, age and variety. Freshly opened wines were pitted against wines that have had different exposure times with air, what were their conclusions?

Identical Wines Tasted *
Aerated/Decanted
â?¢ Changes were noted.
â?¢ Intensity of aromas lost; some bouquet missing.
â?¢ Soft to dulled tactile sensations (not as vibrant depending on exposure to air time)
â?¢ In a very few wines, loss of nose was compensated for by a softer mouth-feel.
â?¢ Was generally disliked by the tasters.

Freshly Opened
â?¢ Wines retained fruit and bouquet.
â?¢ No change in body or structure.
â?¢ You have to live with any â??issuesâ? (oxidative, sulfur, fermentation aromas) when the bottle is freshly opened.
â?¢ Strongly preferred over any of the aerated wines.

The real reason to decant anything has remained a constant for centuries, to remove the sediment!

* All hail E. Peynaud!