How To Decant a Bottle Of Wine
- December 3, 2007
- 3,176 Views
Produced by
Howcast Media
Directed by
Kevin Hall
Voice-Over Artist
Taige Jensen
Production Designer
Karin Olsen
Music
Edison Music Corp
Why do wine lovers pour wine from one container (the bottle) into another container (the decanter) into yet another container (your glass)? Basically, it helps remove sediment and allows the wine to breathe. And it makes for a great show.
You Will Need
- A bottle of wine (usually red)
- A 1-day head start
- A corkscrew or waiter's pull
- A glass decanter
Step 1: Stand wine up
Stand the bottle of wine straight up for 24 hours prior to opening it. This allows any sediment to settle to the bottom. If you don’t have 24 hours, a few hours will do.
In general, white wines don’t need to be decanted—letting them breathe doesn’t really deepen their flavors the way it does for red wines.
Step 2: Open & prepare
Open the bottle and prepare to pour by gripping the bottle in one hand, and your decanter in the other.
The ideal decanter is a glass carafe with a wide, funnel-like mouth and a broad, shallow base that allows the wine to spread out, exposing a wide surface area to the air.
Step 3: Pour wine slowly
Tip the decanter to the side slightly, and pour the wine slowly and steadily into it, taking care to stop pouring if you see any sediment on its way out.
Step 4: Swirl wine
Swirl the wine around in the decanter a few times to help oxygenate the wine.
Step 5: Let wine sit
Let the wine sit for 30 to 45 minutes before serving, tasting every so often if you want to experience the wine’s changing flavors.
Sediment is actually solid bits of color pigments and tannins—grape skins, stems and seeds—which have bonded together over time.
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Comments (5)
To clean your decanter, use crushed ice and coarse salt. This will remove any remaining wine and will not leave any residual odors.
over 4 years ago by jenfrank
thanks for the salt tip! I can never get the decanter totally clean!
over 4 years ago by labmonkey
This video was full of useful tips and makes the whole decanting process a lot less intimidating. I never really fully understood it, now I do!
over 4 years ago by lhvaughey
Writing in from London - this is great info, like the other videos on wine - storing and pouring wine.
over 4 years ago by teakfrank
Great info and really useful, thank you producers
over 2 years ago by chandiwicks
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