About decanting – the “Voodoo” wine-treatment!

First of all I would like to thank Răzvan Avram for bringing up a very interesting subject (you can find his article here). Also Mihnea faced this phenomenon a couple of weeks ago but with the same wine. Now, I don’t want to have a closer look to the wine but to the phenomenon itself, because this is the thrilling thing here. We are talking about necessity aeration of wines. Not this common, stagily emptying of bottles (mainly filled with more or less expensive red wines) in a glass-carafe. In general, there is way too much causeless “decanting” in our days because it makes no sense to treat every wine in this way just because it has a red colour or it is older than 3 years. Beside that, the used expression “decanting” just describes the process, when the wine is separated from its depot. Most of the people are putting the wine in a carafe for aeration and not for decanting. A real decanter is normally higher (to allow the depot to settle) and not this bulgy as a carafe (which offers the wine a bigger surface to react with the airs’ oxygen). But that’s just a marginal note. “Red wine needs to breathe in front of drinking !” This very general recommendation you will hear from a lot of experts and wine lovers. Even older vintages are supposed to become always much better with some aeration. But let’s have a closer look to what it exactly means, to aerate a wine. Well, first of all, it means OXIDATION ! Just cut an apple in half and wait, what will happen to the open sides – yummy, isn’t it ? Or ask a food chemist what means oxidation for him/her. It means spoilage of food or at least the beginning. Ok, that may have been a little bit harsh now, but this is exactly what’s happening. So is the entire decanting/aerating thing pure nonsense ? Of course not, just the usages and the fields of application are often hair-raising and more damaging than helpful. Thanks to the fact, that in our days the majority of wines (and not just the hypermarket brands) are already styled for instant consumption, a preparation in front isn’t necessary anymore. But there are still some producers with a slower vinifying style. Here the wines need normally more time until they develop into the wanted direction. To “speed up” or better to imitate this process, (too) young and still undeveloped wines may benefit from aeration. I say may, because it is a rather rude method and just rudimentarily comparable with years of slow ageing in a bottle. But it works in most of the cases, if the wines are having potential and something, that can be “developed”. Unfortunately just a few people realize that this is also and especially valid for high quality white wines (thanks again Răzvan and Mihnea). But what’s sometimes good and helpful for young wines can be mortal for mature and aged ones. If you are using now for those old wines a carafe/decanter the main intention isn’t to speed up their development because normally they are already developed. But during the time of ageing (sometimes several decades) a wine may form out also unpleasant and unwanted scents like sweat or the famous horse stable, yes, even soft vinegar notes. And these notes are covering the desired aromas. Fortunately those bad guys are in most of the cases very volatile (if not, the wine’s over) what means with air contact and movement they are disappearing relative quickly and the bouquet can show up. It “developes” and one may think, that the aeration improved/pronounced the aromas. But in reality it just made the bad ones disappear. This procedure is very dangerous and it needs a lot of experience to use it in a right way because the probability that you are sending the wine in the “happy hunting ground” is very high. Personally, if I don’t know a wine I put it in my glass and see, how it developes. If I can recognize a clear improvement I will give it a try in a carafe. But in most of the cases, the bottle is empty before we have been able to get a clear decision ! And a lot of times I “killed” a wine-grandpa, just by not drinking it fast enough. So you see, there is no straight rule. Just one – time ! I always take a lot of time to experience an old wine. If you have to try in two hours 15-20 old wines in a tasting – well – put them in a carafe and hope the best… No, in the end time and patience is the key. Just to complete the useful uses of a carafe or decanter, I also want to mention the separation of a wines’ depot. To this just this much. Concerning old wines (because young ones usually don’t have a depot which would be worth decanting it) I would never risk to destroy the wine just to get rid of its depot. A vintage port may be here an exception but also there I don’t really care if a small amount of solid things are remaining in my glass. They belong to the wine and some real wine-nuts are even enjoying these depots after the tasting on a butter-toast (really good and worth a try).

So as a conclusion and a rudimentary advice it may remain :

- Young red and white quality wines MAY benefit of aeration but in most of the cases it just offers an entertaining show at the table. Above all if a candle, a funnel and a filter are used – grotesque ! The producers are not filtering anymore but we do – in front of drinking …
- Older vintages require experience and knowledge by using these tools
- To use a decanter just for separating a depot from a wine can be a very dangerous act (especially by very old wines)
- The most important things to enjoy a real high quality wine is a good glass and a bottle, which is big enough …

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