Why decant wine?

Two quite different reasons can lead us to pass A wine in a decanter:

- aerate a young wine so that it presents itself at its best, we speak of aeration

- decanting an aged wine, to separate the wine of its possible deposit, This is called decanting (or decantation).

The way of operating will not be the same in the Two cases and the decanters to be used will also not be the same. Talking about "decanting a young wine" is somehow an abuse of language.

Aeration wine

The passage in carafe of a rather young wine will have several Effects:

- it will awaken its aromas, the wine will appear more open, he will deliver better,

- he will harmonize the whole and give the impression more rounded tannins,

- it will let any odors fade away reduction (odors rather quite unpleasant due to the confinement of the wine).

Which wines need to be aerated ?

In theory, a mature wine will not have any real need to be aerated. On the other hand before it has reached maturity, a passage in a carafe will allow it, not to gain a few years of aging, but to compensate a little for the disadvantages of youth by allowing it to harmonize somewhat.

So all young wines, whether red or white, will take advantage of a decanter. Plus the material is dense, the more tannic structure is present and the more aeration is going to be beneficial. Some wines, however, can be bad. React to aeration, including wines non-sulfur sensitive to oxidation. Moreover the carafage of Burgundy is a difficult subject...

The case of older wines, 10 years and older, is more delicate and must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Some will benefit of an aeration, others not, some even collapse. The phenomenon of reduction further complicates the situation and multiplies the number of cases. Unless we know in advance that the matter will still be particularly present, it is probably more cautious not to carafer in advance and to monitor the evolution during meals.

Finally, be aware that some tasters consider aeration of a wine (young or old) as useless or even harmful. This proves, once again, that tasting is far from being an exact science.

How to carafer a wine to ventilate it?

The carafage of a young wine is very easy: just transfer. As a general rule, will slide the wine along the wall but you can choose a method more brutal if the wine is particularly robust or solid, or still if the carafage time will be short. The important thing is to let the wine rest... for a while. As a general rule, 1 hour is suitable in most cases. It will be extended to 3 or 4 hours on the wines denser and / or very young and we can consider 6-8 hours as a minimum for New World monster-type wines (pure tasting wines, massive wines quite alcoholic).

The shapes of decanters are many and varied but a fashion recent puts the wide and flat decanters forward. This is unfortunate. : whether these decanters can at best be suitable for " tasting monster", the real gastronomic wines, those who will delight us at the table, will be much better put in value in a narrower decanter.

The presence or absence of a stopper on a carafe has only It doesn't matter unless you place your carafe outside (the wind tends to make the aromas go away). Moreover The decanters that pour the wine without making a drop are unfortunately counted on the fingers of the hand. For others, only dexterity out of the ordinary makes it possible to avoid them.

If you do not have a carafe, also know that the simple transfer in another bottle allows to obtain the same beneficial effects : aeration occurs essentially at the time of decanting. It is even possible to make a second transfer to return the wine to its original bottle. The other bottle must of course be perfectly clean and waiting time must be doubled or tripled if the wine is at the level of the bottleneck. If the cap is replaced, the transfer can even do it 12 or 24 hours before tasting.

Once the carafage is done, please place the carafe in a place with a good temperature. The problem is mainly delicate for white wines. Small decanters have the advantage to be able to be placed in the refrigerator or in an ice bucket. Otherwise, use the decanting method in another bottle.

Leave the bottle simply uncorked (without transferring it) for a while does not replace a carafe passage: the surface in contact with the open air is far too small and above all there is no wine aeration. This helps to avoid problems of reduction, nothing more. If you take a little wine, the contact surface will then be increased but the effect will have nothing to do with a decanter.

For some time, many gadgets appear to seek to replace the decanter. Most often, they are placed directly on the neck of the bottle to operate just at the time of pouring the wine in the glass. I admire the inventiveness of the creators but these Inventions focus far too much on ventilation alone. The decanting, it is a light aeration followed by a time rest. These gadgets offer us significant ventilation and remove the rest time. It is not really possible to get to the same result. You can also test it yourself by shaking your glass violently (not without forgetting to close it) with the palm of your hand) or shaking an almost full bottle. You see a modification, often fleeting, due to the rude awakening but you will never have the harmony achieved after a carafage.

To close the subject, finally know that the words "carafer" and "carafage" are not yet recognized as part of the French language. However, we can hope that this will soon be the case, as these two terms are so common used by both amateurs and professionals.

Prefer decanters of medium width. The "duck" shape " is a good example. In addition to highlighting the wines both to the eye and the palate, this decanter has the advantage of pouring without making a drop and being able to be placed in the refrigerator when carafing a white wine.