Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [113]
Which Wines Should Be Decanted?
Rule of thumb: Older red wines (typically ten years and older, but visually inspect bottles with 3 or more years of age to be sure) may have sediment, and are thus candidates for decanting. All vintage Port has sediment, and should be decanted—the older the wine, the thicker the sediment. Young, very full-bodied red wines can benefit from decanting for aeration.
The Tools for Decanting
The tools are:
A candle to illuminate the neck of the bottle as you pour. This allows you to see the clear wine as it flows from the bottle into the decanter, and to stop when the dark trail of sediment reaches the neck of the bottle, before it flows into the decanter. You can use a taper or votive, but avoid scented candles. Some have staying power that can compete with the scents of the wine and food.
A carafe or decanter to contain the decanted wine.
DO I NEED A DECANTER? You can decant into any glass or crystal vessel of sufficient size to hold the wine. In a pinch, I have used water pitchers, ice buckets, and even my mom’s Pyrex pancake mixing bowl, which worked great because of the built-in pouring spout. Glass and crystal are neutral, and thus won’t alter the wine’s taste. If you do buy a decanter, consider the size and shape. A good decanter should hold the contents of a bottle of wine with plenty of room to spare and should ideally have a wide circumference so that the wine inside has a broad surface area exposed to air (same concept as the balloon shape for red-wine glasses). The ones I use, from the Riedel company, are shaped rather like a large chemist’s beaker. Etching, facets, or other decorative features are a matter of personal taste. I prefer the plain ones because they show off the color and shimmer of the wine.
SETTLING WINES AT HOME
If you store wines on their sides in a cellar or wine rack, make sure the label is facing up. That way, you will know that the sediment is opposite the label when you get ready to decant. If you remove the bottle from its rack carefully, you can decant by grasping the bottle with the label facing up (underneath your hand), to avoid mixing in the sediment.
How to Decant
First, let the wine settle. If you just got the bottle home from the store, or the wine is otherwise shaken up, the sediment will be mixed in. Give the bottle a day or two to settle. You can stand the wine up to settle (sediment goes to the bottom).
Waiter’s tip: Present the bottle as you normally would before opening. Formal restaurants use a decanting cradle or basket for this, to keep the wine on its side. Otherwise, just hold the bottle carefully, avoid shaking, and stand it up gently.
Set up: On a counter or other firm surface, put the decanter to the left of the candle, and the bottle to the right of the candle (lefties can reverse this). The top of the candle needs to be six to twelve inches from the counter surface so that you can easily backlight the bottle neck. When using a votive or tea light, I invert a wineglass and place the candle on it like a pedestal. Light the candle. Wooden cigar matches are best, as they minimize sulphur smells that will compete with your wine experience.
Remove the entire capsule so you can easily see the sediment in the neck of the bottle when decanting. Cut a vertical slit on the side of the capsule with your corkscrew blade and it will come off easily.
Wipe the bottle top with a paper towel or service napkin before opening the wine.
Open the wine as you normally would.
Grasp the bottle with the label facing up under your hand. Grasp the decanter by the neck (or wherever it is comfortable for you).
Pour the wine slowly into the decanter in one smooth, gentle motion (avoid starting and stopping, which mixes up the sediment). As you do this, hold the neck of the bottle a few inches over the candle to backlight it so that you can