Temperature is critical, and a major flaw I frequently find with decanted wines is that folks allow the wine to come up to room temp by leaving the decanter on the counter. Most often, I just put the decanted wine back in the cellar. If you have a smelly cellar then I would cover the decanter. (Frankly, most often I double decant, so the wine may be in the decanter for 1/2-1 hour on the counter, then back in the bottle and back in the cellar. This will undoubtedly generate comments that this isn’t the same as a pure decant, but I’m a believer that most of the benefit of decanting is the pouring of the wine from one container into another).
And 3-6 hour decant isn’t crazy–for me appropriate for barolo, and backward burgundy, northern rhone, etc. Most often I do a 2-3 hr decant for most serious wines that need decanting. I tend to decant a little longer if I’m serving the wine to a larger group, wanting it to be more ready to go, because I know that it will disappear rather quickly.
I agree the temp is important, so I will use the cellar/wine fridge to keep cool. If neither are available, a quick trip to the fridge before serving does the trick. Just don’t forget about it, it can take a frustratingly long time to bring the temp up…or freeze my hands trying to warm up the glass!
Last night we had a 6 course wine dinner at the house with a chef (rescheduled from around Xmas due to Covid). What I did was pulled whites out of the fridge the course before it was to be served and put reds/decanters in the fridge just the same — about 20 mins or so for each
I agree 100% with John here regarding time and temperature. I don’t have a smelly cellar, so I put the decanted wine back there until I’m ready for it. Depending on where you live and the time of year, a cool garage will do the job too.
It may not look fancy, but I typically place a small ice pack under the decanter. Depending on the ambient temp, might have to swap out a pack around the 2 hour mark. I’ve found that this keeps the wine just around 55.
I no longer find long 3+ hour decants crazy, the transition to remote work normalized them for me. In turn it opened my eyes to many styles that I disliked before since I was failing to give them enough air.
On a day like today I might just leave the decanter right next to the window behind the curtains. The temperature differential between that and the rest of the room is pretty significant.
Seems absolutely necessary for some wines to show their stuff (e.g., certain aged Bordeaux). I definitely decant that long when I see a few CT notes mention the wine was best after a few hours. I also often double decant in the AM and leave on counter or fridge re-corked.
Why is temperature so important during decanting? The main reason to have a wine at some temperature is for optimal drinking, not optimal decanting (where it will make little difference).
And, as some others have said, I can’t count the number of times a wine was better on the second day (or even third and fourth). Particularly younger wines. If you think a wine needs decanting for exposure to air (as opposed to getting it off the sediment), then longer is almost always better. An hour or two sitting in a static decanter does almost nothing.
It’s not. It’s just that folks often let it warm up while/after decanting, and then never bother to cool it off again, or cool it off too much. It’s simplest to just leave it at cellar temp, but also ok if it’s been on the counter to put it in the fridge, or whatever.
If you’re worried about scents, this stuff works. You just tear a piece off and stretch it over your decanter. Then you can put it back in the cellar or wherever. I would just leave it in the fridge or cellar, but if you leave it on the counter, you can put it in the freezer for a few minutes. That temp shift isn’t going to harm the wine as you’re drinking it right away.
3-6 hours is not crazy at all imo. Plenty of wines that required close to 6 imo.
I also find that temperature is very important when decanting. From my experience, if you decant the wine at 75degrees and cool it, it will need significantly less time than if you do it at 60 degrees. I try not to use the fridge, but I use it occasionally as well to cool it after the fact, or sometimes to keep a wine overnight. I have never left an open bottle (without cork) in the fridge, so I unfortunately, don’t have anything to input on scent transfer.
No that is not a crazy decant. I am sure many like myself try wines on the younger side to see if more wines should be purchased. I always decant if I am going to an event in my storage room which is always around 60 degrees. Might drop to 55 if it is 30 below in MN!
