Wine Accessories and Glasses

A decanter is more than an attractive vessel utilized to serve your wine. Pouring your wine into a decanter helps to remove sediment and can soften harsh tasting tannins found in some red wines. It seems to be the general consensus that white wines generally do not have to be decanted.

Removing the cork and allowing the bottle to sit before serving does not allow enough room for the air to enter the bottle.  However,  decanting the wine in a glass wine decanter will allow enough air to let the wine breathe. Decanting benefits wine of all ages. It separates the clear wine from the sediment and aerates the wine creating a slight oxidation.

It is a good idea, prior to decanting, to leave the bottle upright for a day for young wines - wines 15 years or older, should be left upright for a week. For wines older than 40 years, the deposits and extremely fine and it takes much longer to settle. Lay the bottle down for one month before standing it up for the week. Please handle these aged bottles gently.

A funnel with a cheesecloth filter works well to pour into a decanter, but beware, it is wise not to use coffee filters as it would add the taste of paper to your wine. Decant, decant, decant!!!!!!!!