For that reason, a white wine with high sulfite content like the white wines from the Rhone Valley, orange wines, Chenin Blanc, white Burgundy, and Sauternes also benefit from decanting. To make these high tannin wines more pleasurable to the palate, decanting wine is a must. The process of decanting is to allow the wine to “breathe”. Oxygen is introduced to it either by transferring the wine into the decanter or a glass and left on the counter for a few hours. Connoisseurs, however, are not very convinced about the wine aerator and prefer to just decant wine and breathe naturally.
Finding the right glassware for your home bar is an ongoing process but worth investing in to elevate your aesthetic bar cart or home. As such, by 1730, British glassmakers had introduced stoppers to their decanter designs in order to prevent the wine within from experiencing unwanted exposure to air. And along with the adoption of the stopper came the implementation of decanters for use with all kinds of spirits, including aperitifs, cordials, rum, and yes, even whiskey. You’ll notice that some wines will take longer to oxygenate than others. For example, full-bodied red wines with high tannin (the astringent, mouth-drying sensation) generally need more time in a decanter.
While others may argue that swirling wine glasses is enough to expose the wine to air, it is not applicable to old wines that need more than 1 hour of aeration. I doubt if anyone would love to swirl their wine whisky decanter crystal for an hour to achieve the desired result. A mature wine needs a more gentle approach with decanting. Let the bottle stand upright for a day or two to allow any sediment to settle at the bottom of the bottle.
Pour in a whole 750ml bottle of your favorite tipple and enjoy rapid aeration. This means both the flavor and aroma are intensified without needing to wait around for hours for the wine to breathe. All you need to do with most reds is leave them in this decanter for 30 minutes and you’re good to go. When using this decanter, the manufacturer recommends decanting younger wines a few hours before serving. Old wines can be decanted directly before serving, though, giving near-instant results and a dramatic improvement in the taste and aroma of your red wines.
And keep an eye out for dishwasher-safe decanters, which can make the cleaning process much easier. Most wine decanters are sized to fit one bottle of wine. You can find some that are large enough to fit more than one bottle, some only small enough for a glass at a time, and others that fall somewhere in between. Elevated levels of lead have been known to leech from the leaded crystal glass into alcohol.