Wine : What is the Difference Between Decanter and Decanter ?

The decanter is an essential tool for wine lovers to decant or decant wine, but what differences between the two ?

It is true that we often tend to think that the carafe is only used to decant. Yet, it also allows the wine to be decanted when there is a deposit.

To understand the role of decanting, you can do a simple little experiment. Pour yourself a glass of wine and smell it straight away. Then stir your glass before you smell it again. You felt the difference ? The aromas are more expressive, more open when the wine is airy. Decanting a wine plays exactly the same role. The objective is to aerate the wine to tone it down and make it more open.

Wine is a living being - do not take in the 1st degree —. When i say that, it is that it evolves over time and its chemical structure develops. It oxidizes when in contact with oxygen - like a cell —. During fermentation, grape juice which gradually turns into wine, releases carbon dioxide - like you when you breathe —.

In general, decanting is reserved for young red wines, but a good number of white wines can also lend themselves to exercise. Southern reds, rich and tannic, adapt well to decanting and gain height during tasting with rounder tannins and more accessible aromas.

When you have identified a defect in your glass, it is possible to dispel it, or at least reduce it, passing it in a carafe - as the " reduction phenomenon " —. These defects, which can develop after a long storage period, can be reduced by decanting your bottle.. After about fifteen minutes, taste your wine to assess its development. If the fault is still very present you can assume a fault which will be difficult to recover.

On the contrary, roses - and some whites - which are vinified to be tasted quickly, and rarely aged in barrels, do not need to be decanted. They are appreciable by being simple and fruity. Pinot Noir, emblematic grape variety of Burgundy wines, do not decant. This grape does not tolerate the passage in a carafe and you risk doing it more harm than good..

The carafe must have a very wide seat and a very flared neck. As you will understand, the purpose of this carafe is to provide maximum oxygen. To have maximum contact between the liquid surface and oxygen, it is important to have the largest possible exchange surface - and not to stopper the carafe —.

Before putting your wine in a carafe, take the reflex to smell the inside of your carafe to be sure it has no odor (s), because they will be transmitted to your precious liquid.

Consider decanting your bottle 2 hours before tasting to give the wine time to build up in this new environment. It is difficult to give you a precise duration, because each wine is different. Some will need more time than others. Age, the storage conditions or your preference are parameters that can vary this reference from 2 hours.

The purpose of decanting is to remove the deposit present in your bottle before tasting. The goal is not to aerate the wine - quite the contrary - this operation must be carried out at the last moment. There are two methods of settling.

For the traditional method, the wine is poured slowly into the carafe with a candle placed under the neck of the bottle - or other light source —. The light is useful to see when the deposit is approaching the bottleneck, which indicates that we must stop pouring. To decant in the best conditions, it is strongly recommended to keep your bottle upright for at least 24 hours for the deposit to concentrate at the bottom of the bottle.

For the modern method, the wine goes through a settling funnel before arriving in the decanter. With this method, you no longer have to worry about raising your bottle the day before, nor the little play of the candle since the filter will collect the deposit. If you don't have a separating funnel and you realize too late that your bottle has a deposit, a Mac Gyver solution exists: use a clean cloth or coffee filter to trap particles.

Settling is a very delicate process that requires some expertise to be mastered.. The proof is that there is a decantage test in professional competitions such as that of the Best Sommelier of the world. Practiced according to the rules of the art, it allows the wine to be placed in the best possible tasting conditions and is a staging that increases the desire to taste. Badly controlled, it will literally kill your precious liquid.

The deposit is formed especially in old wines. The decantation should be intended for these wines, but during the decantation process the latter will be oxygenated. After several years, the wine trapped in its bottle needs to be taken gently and the decantation may be violent. It will lose its personality very quickly after settling. To find out if it is possible to decant your wine, make sure beforehand that it has tannins still present.

Before decanting, remember that this practice is reserved for great tannic wines from fine vintages.

Without carafe, without pants ?

To aerate your wine, you can also think about opening your bottle at least 6 hours before your tasting to operate a slow aeration of your wine. The neck being narrow, this technique requires more time, but respect your nectar more. It will only be better. Remember that with wine - like fishing - patience is rewarded with an unforgettable tasting experience.