Stirring up the sediment when pouring will cloud a wine’s appearance and can impart bitter flavors and a gritty texture. Chilling Decanter — While red wines are the most popular type to decant, white wines can also benefit. Chilling decanters allow you to decant your white wines and keep them cold at the same time. This is a more complicated process than simply pouring it in for aeration and one that’s not necessary for most wines, but important for expensive wines that have been aged.
After corking, wipe the inside and outside neck of the bottle with a clean cloth. In a well-lit room, using a decanter fitted with a fine mesh-screened funnel, begin to pour the wine in a slow steady stream into the decanter. Keep an eye on the sediment; as soon as you see it creeping into the bottleneck, whisky decanter crystal stop pouring. A fine mesh funnel should capture any bits that may get by. An aerating funnel is a great aide to increase air incorporation during pouring, but sometimes you still need to let you wine rest in the decanter for an hour or two. You will notice the aromas and flavors evolve with time.
When it comes to cleaning, there’s a brush and some beads thrown in so you have everything you need for fuss-free maintenance and a decanter to bring out the very best in your red wines. While all red wines are enhanced after aeration, you’ll notice a pronounced improvement if you decant cheaper wines rather than serving directly from the bottle. Wine Enthusiast’s wine decanters are popular with customers who say they’re of decent quality and are a good value for the cost. A few do mention in reviews that they’re hard to pour or drip, but most of those reviewers still rate them high overall. In general, their reputation for making affordable decanters is solid. Riedel is one of the best-known names in wine decanters.
Best of all, you don’t have to be a sommelier or seasoned oenophile to use a decanter. Having a beautiful, high quality set of lead-free crystal glasses with a decanter is the perfect way to enjoy your favourite whiskey. Obviously, it’s not the mere act of shifting liquid from one container to another that accounts for the magic of decanting. Rather, when you decant a bottle of wine, two things happen. First, slow and careful decanting allows wine to separate from its sediment, which, if left mixed in with the wine, will impart a very noticeable bitter, astringent flavor.
The good news is that it keeps for a long time even after the bottle is opened. For wines, the best decanter to use is the circular ones as it allows the air inside to move freely and do its job. It should have a wide neck of the bottle to allow more air at the least possible time. A good decanter should have done its job of aerating the wine, softening the tannins, releasing the aromas, and separating the sediments from the bottom of the bottle of wine in an hour or less. Other wine experts, though, prefer to decant wine for at least 2 hours.