How to Tell if You Need to Decant Your Wine

A wine decanter should be much more than an eye-catching item to display on your bar cart. Decanting involves slowly pouring the wine from its bottle into another vessel, where it’s allowed to rest in contact with the fresh air around it, often in an effort to allow the wine to “open up”.

“Decanters are typically designed to increase oxygen exposure,” says Suzanne DeStio, sommelier and wine director at One White Street in New York City. 

Decanter shapes and sizes vary from small and minimalist to large, showy, and swirly. They usually feature a thin lip or a spout to facilitate pouring, and a narrow neck that controls the amount of oxygen allowed to enter the vessel. This neck opens into a bulbous well at the bottom, in which the wine rests.

So why take the extra step of transferring the wine to another container? Think of decanting like spraying a dingy window with glass cleaner. Exposing wine to extra oxygen can help to bring out certain features such as tannins or acidity with more clarity. It can also help to separate any sediment that has built up in the bottle.

When should you decant a wine (and when can you skip it)

The tricky part is that not all wines require, or even benefit from, decanting. Some wines should be allowed to breathe before sipping, while others are best consumed fresh. It can be hard to tell simply from looking at the label, so here are some tips.

Before deciding whether to decant, it’s wise to taste the wine. If it’s already expressive, pour and enjoy it.  If you do decide to decant, Danya Degen, general manager and sommelier at Méli in Washington, D.C Degen recommends decanting half of the bottle first to taste the wine in the bottle compared to the wine in the decanter to make sure the process is making a positive difference. 

“Experimenting is how we learn,” she says. “I especially like doing this with bottles I know I’ll be enjoying again, like wine club purchases or yearly allocations.”

Decanting do's

There are two occasions in which sommeliers generally endorse decanting, says Sarah Foote, director of wine and service at Castle Hot Springs in Morristown, Arizona:

• If the wine is young (about three years or less, depending on the region and varietal): Decanting a younger wine introduces oxygen to awaken and release aromas and flavors. 
• If the wine is old (about 15 years or more, depending on the region and variety): Decanting an older wine is often helpful to remove the sediment that falls out of the solution as a wine gets up there in years. “Check your wine to see if there is sediment by using your phone light to illuminate the bottom of the bottle,” says Foote “If you see dark specks floating around, that’s it.” The easiest way to decant and remove sediment is to open the wine, then pour it into a decanter with a two-ply of cheesecloth at the top of the decanter to catch the debris.

Decanting don'ts

It’s almost always wise to skip decanting if you’re opening up:

• White, rosé, and sparkling wines: Steer clear of decanting sparkling wines, which can quickly lose their bubbles when the wine’s surface area comes in contact with the air. 
• Wines older than 50 years: “The wine is delicate and nuanced at that point, and exposing it to too much air can blow away the volatile aromas that are key to the wine’s identity,” says Luke Boland, wine director at The Hospitality Department (Point Seven, The Press Club Grill, Coral Omakase) in New York City.
• A flawed wine: Decanting can’t fix a wine that has already fallen victim to cork taint, oxidation, or heat damage. In those cases, it’s best to dump the wine and start fresh rather than wasting your time and sipping something subpar.
• A wine that’s older and might be past its peak drinking window. Wines can’t age forever, says DeSito. If your bottle is nearing the end of its ideal drinking window, the extra oxygen can push the wine over the edge to the point where it falls completely flat.

If you sip a wine that’s simply too cold, decanting can help bring it closer to its ideal serving temperature. 

Degen also enjoys decanting when she’s entertaining. “Other than loving the theater of it all and the beauty of the vessel, the larger surface area of a decanter speeds along the process so we can enjoy the wine more quickly, and it will be more delicious when we do,” she says. “But if it’s just me, I pour it in glass and let it sit for a bit, and maybe enjoy a cocktail while I wait.” 

How long should you decant wine?

There’s no one across-the-board answer to how long a wine should decant,  since every wine is different. In general, though, the younger and bolder the wine, the longer it can stand to decant.

The experts we spoke to suggest decanting a young wine for 15 minutes to one hour. However, David Osenbach, wine director at Providence restaurant in Los Angeles says he has decanted some wines for hours or even longer than a day, with stellar results.

In most cases, decant an older wine to remove sediment, then serve it within 15 minutes. Time is of the essence here, since oxygen exposure with aged wines can cause them to lose their vibrancy and fade out fairly quickly, says Degen. You’re decanting to simply remove the sediment, and for no other reason.

How to let wine breathe if you don’t own a decanter

If you don’t have a decanter handy, sommeliers say you can still open up those young wines or clear out sediment using other tools. Popular recommendations include:

• Water pitcher
• Kettle
• French press
• Chemistry beaker
• Flower vase
• An empty, clean wine bottle

Degen sometimes employs what the pros call a “double decant,” which is far less technical than it sounds. Simply pour the whole bottle of wine into a clean, fragrance-free, quart-sized glass measuring cup. Once it’s empty, rinse the original bottle with cool water, shake it dry, then carefully pour the wine back into the bottle. 

“Voila, you’ve just aerated the wine, removed sediment, and now you can enjoy a more delicious wine out of its original bottle,” says Degen.

If you don’t want to fuss with the official decanting process, keep in mind that simply wine into a wine glass is pretty much just decanting on a small scale. The wine will open up as it sits, but much more slowly. This will allow you to experience the evolution of the wine over a much more leisurely period of time.