Do you decant?In this week's Serious Grape column, my weekly contribution to the fabulous food site Serious Eats, I try to demystify the subject of decanting. Basically there are two reasons to decant: to remove the sediment from old wines and to aerate younger wines. In both cases, decanting makes good wine taste better.
Last night, a friend was pouring some lovely old wines including a 1997 Château Léoville Barton that was just drinking beautifully--but had some sediment in the bottle as a result of its age. Decanting got that sediment out of there, which would have given the wine a bitter, tannin taste as well as negatively impacting the texture.
So don't be intimidated or overwhelmed by decanting. You can do it with a clean mayonnaise jar if you want, and there are some stylish options like the one pictured here, too.
Head over to Serious Grape and check it out.
4 comments:
gonna have to taste this kind of wine. it wasn't here. though it's expensive but really i love to try it. -=wine lover rulez=-
Certainly among the best 1997 Bordeaux I have tasted. Deep hue with some brick colour towards the rim, marvellously fragrant bouquet, textbook Saint-Julien taste and fresh, elegant, slightly oaky aftertaste. No signs of dilution.
How much time does a...say 10 year old bottle of wine need to sit out in the decanter for?
I would submit that there is a third reason to decant a wine that has nothing to do with taste. That would be for show. Decanting a wine can add a little festivity to an occasion. I'm not talking about being pretentious - just a little theater to start off the meal...
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