For me, careful pouring doesn’t really address when you get towards the bottom of the bottle and sediment inevitably gets stirred up into the wine. I like to decant, rinse the bottle and return the wine. No careful pouring is needed and you’re yielding more wine to drink. Sure you can get extra geeky with siphoning tricks for less air exposure but that’s going a bit too far for me.
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How old is old? What age are you asking about? And what wine regions are you asking about?
Over-decanting is not helpful for any wine young or old.
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For sediment as already been mentioned. If it is good out of bottle drink it up as I have over decanted older wines.
Not saying they do. Although if you buy the “I make wine I like to drink” argument, it’s logical that they drink it at the point that it tastes most like their intended wine. When I go to see some Shakespeare, I often yell out the lines the way I wish they had been written, because why should the director or writer have the last word? (Kidding. It’s your wine. Do what you like.)
Even on this thread, there seems to be some question about the utility of it, and it all started with a wine maker who I assume knows a fair bit about what happens to wine chemically when you expose it to air. So, the first word was his. But it’s certainly not the last.
The benefit isn’t just a gentler decant; I find I’m able to get a couple more ounces out of an older bottle with no fear of sediment. When it’s a prized wine that extra 5-10% yield can be really worth it
Exactly, that was my first note for decanting old bottles vs gently pouring. More wine for us and anyone we’re sharing with. The note about siphoning was for less air exposure.
I popped a 2001 Arcadian Francesa pinot noir last week. It definitely needed an hour decant to show its fruit. Tasted muted just after a pop and pour taste.
The comment about just opening the bottle ahead of time but decanting later. intrigued me. Have to try that. Older Bordeaux I usually decant an hour or so ahead (for sediment and let the wine arise from its slumber) and try to plan its consumption over a period of time or have flexible meal timing. You can easily wait a bit but can’t go the other way unless you have a TARDIS handy.
I always decant red wines, old or no, for sediment. In theory you can just pour the wine carefully in the glass, but decanting permits you to pour carefully once, into the decanter, and then without bright light or as much care at the table.
I also find that old wine frequently has musty off-putting aromas and flavors on opening which blow off with some time. In any event, my practice is to open the wine as we cook dinner and let it open up over the evening. Some bottles benefit a lot from the treatment, some probably don’t, but there is no way to know which will and which won’t before opening. C’est la vie.
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Wines with good seals develop mainly in an anaerobic environment. These can get reductive. Decanting allows oxygen to reverse some of the effects. There are wines, however, which will never come around from their bottle stink.
Separation from sediment can be done by decanting or just careful pouring, as so many have remarked. For serving others, I’ll always decant. For myself, who knows. If I’m serving others and I believe the wine will benefit from air to show best, I’ll let it sit in the decanter accordingly. If I’m drinking by myself, I’ll just follow in the glass and enjoy the ride while noting the ups and downs of the wine over time.
To remove sediment and, if present, bottle funk.
It’s interesting seeing how many people say careful pouring works as well to remove sediment. That is far from my experience, and that of most/all other people I’ve talked to about this. Using a cradle and pouring the whole bottle at once you can get close, but only close. Short of that, I lose a lot more wine with the careful pour method, and I’ve tried it many times with older wines that I didn’t care much about. When I say I lose wine, I mean coarse sediment sneaks in on the entire last glass or more. Plus, as soon as a glass is poured and the bottle is set back down, a lot of the very fine sediment is stirred up and spreads throughout the rest of the wine, staying in suspension rather than resettling, so any glasses poured after that are not nearly as good as the one(s) poured clear the first time, especially in wines with a lot of fine sediment. I know some people aren’t very sensitive to the bitterness that fine sediment imparts, but I do think most people will notice some detriment to the wine if they try a well-poured, totally clear glass next to an even slightly cloudy one.
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I remember a Pape Clement vertical I was at over 20 years ago. The 1961 was okay but nothing special. Seeing me finish it off my neighbor commented that it needed more air. I was skeptical that a 40 year old wine would improve in the glass.
45 minutes later he handed me his glass and the most glorious nose emerged from it. I learned my lesson then about giving air to older Bordeaux.
Oddly enough I popped this wine a year later and decanted this wine for a short 10 minutes and it’s already singing!
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[quote=“dcornutt, post:11, topic:171499”]
Sediment
[/quote]this. For old wines, sediment. For young wines, some aeration. How long a decant is another subject and there are as many answers as posters.
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Late to the party but couldn’t help mentioning one point related to Maria Teresa. Yes, she has mentioned the dislike of decanting, however one of most important points she talks about in IDTT with Levi is the importance of time, at every stage when it comes to Nebbiolo from producing to consuming.
I would be really surprised if she didn’t put away an opened bottle and glass if she thought it needed more time.
So yes no decant, but with the view and importance of time (for Nebbiolo) she probably still gives the wines as much time and air as needed. You can’t rush Nebbiolo.