Ok,


Here is my question. Once you have decanted a bottle of red wine, how long is the wine IN the decanter good for. Is it good longer then it would be if I poured myself a glass and then re-corked the bottle ???? Or is it better to decant the entire bottle even if you don't plan to polish off the entire bottle in that one sitting.

I have noticed that the bottle I have had in the decanter since last night has alot more tannin in it, or so it seems, since last night roughly an hour or so after decanting. How is this so ?



Thanks in advance.


- AD

AD,

Decanting will expose it to more air so it will oxodize faster. Depends on the wine I guess. I would say drink it in less than 3 days.

I would say only decant what you intend to use that evening.

The undecanted wine in the recorked bottle will still be oxidizing. I do not like to go much past 3 days but some say red will last 4-5.

A lot of what I told you is opinion that may contradict your own as you experience more, hope it helps, but keep in mind it is very subjective.

great answer from spo1997. i'll add a bit more info.

the idea behind decanting is to expose the wine to air, which encourages the fruit aromas and flavors to open up (which is dandy, if it's a complex young wine that's meant to be aged). as the fruit opens and becomes more pronounced, the tannins seem less astringent though they don't actually decrease.

after a while (a couple hours to a couple days, depending on the wine), the fruit starts to fade; it can only take so much air. as the fruit fades, the tannins become more prominent. eventually, all the fruit will fade and the wine will be dried out and tannic.

in a decanter, the amount of tannin stays the same; it's basically the power of the fruit that varies. tannins take much longer to polymerize and evolve; this requires years in barrel or bottle.

looking at it in another way, wine is an intricate balance between its soft components (fruit, sweetness, alcohol) and its hard components (acidity and tannin). by decanting, you're boosting the fruit, which is soft, so the wine seems more soft, less hard.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: The Schoolmarm,

Thank you very much for that information guys. Helped alot!



- AD

quote:

Originally posted by Artful Dodger:
Or is it better to decant the entire bottle even if you don't plan to polish off the entire bottle in that one sitting.

Pour the FIRST half into a 375ml bottle to the very top. Use the cork from the freshly opened bottle(that way, you know what it is 3 weeks later), jam it in the 375ml until wine squeezes out. No need for Vacuvins or Nitrogen gas. Put it back into storage.

Use this method also when opening a White & a Red for dinner, but don't want to consume 2 bottles of wine.

Does that really work ???


- AD

quote:

Originally posted by ronmc2:

quote:

Originally posted by Artful Dodger:
Or is it better to decant the entire bottle even if you don't plan to polish off the entire bottle in that one sitting.

Pour the FIRST half into a 375ml bottle to the very top. Use the cork from the freshly opened bottle(that way, you know what it is 3 weeks later), jam it in the 375ml until wine squeezes out. No need for Vacuvins or Nitrogen gas. Put it back into storage.

Use this method also when opening a White & a Red for dinner, but don't want to consume 2 bottles of wine.

Giving away trade secrets, I see. That is one of the best (and cheapesst) ways to keep half a bottle of wine.

quote:

Originally posted by Artful Dodger:
Does that really work ???


- AD

Yes. The half bottle tastes like it has about 10 minutes of air. So, if your original bottle needed 30 minutes for the funk to blow off, the 3-week-old 375ml will need about 15 minutes. Older wines will have a much shorter drinking timeframe(15-30 minutes rather than 30-60 minutes).

Drinking a full bottle where I live (over 8000 feet altitude), would put me under the table every time. This method also allows me to taste the wine with two different kinds of food.

quote:

g a full bottle where I live (over 8000 feet altitude), would put me under the table every time. This method also allows me to taste the wine with two different kinds of food.

Thanks so very very much!


-AD!

ronmc2,

I never even considered that, That is some of the best advice I have gotten in a while. I guess you are all right after all.

quote:

Originally posted by spo1977:
ronmc2,
I guess you are all right after all.

That's a lie, dammit! I expect a full retraction, IMMEDIATELY!

I just got an aeration funnel to go with my decanter. It's pretty cool.

I've actually purchased a 375 ml screw cap Rutherford Merlot - not for the wine, but for the reusable screw cap! Fill the 375 right to the top and screw the cap back on. No mess.

I did the same with a 375ml bottle of Conundrum.

That is excellent advice! How long can one reasonably keep the resealed 375 in storage for?

Dave

Have had a white burgundy 3 months later;
a port 1 year later; both tasted even better than when originally opened.

Along this topic, do all reds benefit from decanting? how do i know which?

Along this topic, do all reds benefit from decanting?

No.

how do i know which?

Unless the wine requires decanting off sediment (older wines which should always be decanted to separate the juice from the muck,) the only way to tell is with your palate, or to look at tasting notes of others and drinking window suggestions by pros to make an intelligent guess.

PH

This advice on saving half bottles is very cool. Being so new to wine things like this help intrigue me more about its vastness and all around cool vibe.

I always go with the 375 and original cork. With the screwtop, how can you remember which wine is which after a couple of days? Stick a cork in it!

quote:

Originally posted by asv:
I always go with the 375 and original cork. With the screwtop, how can you remember which wine is which after a couple of days? Stick a cork in it!

Piece of masking tape and a sharpie can do wonderous things. Any thought to trying this with the small 4 pack screwtop bottles you can get of some brands?

This is one of the most practical pieces of advice that i have seen on this Board, and went out and bought a screw top 375 just for this purpose. Other than trying to remember what wine is actually in the 375, this is really a great way to keep wine for the next drinking.

Dale

Thanks for the tip on the half bottle. I tend to agree with asv. I also like to keep the cork to remind me that it is an opened bottle and I tend to be a traditionalist when it come to the cork vs. screw cap arguement. If you're using the screw cap, I hope you're storing the wine upright to limit the contact of the wine with the cork. Only reason I bring this up is that I tend to decant wine that I have spent time aging or were pretty expensive in the first place and don't want to necessarily change the flavor.

Wow, I almost bought a 200.00 wine saver system! Thank you for the great advice on half bottles!!

Be careful aerating aged red wine (stored over 20 years)!! Often, these aged red wines are so volatile that aeration will cause the aromas to disappear within minutes -- thus losing the best of the wines.

You should definitely decant aged wine. But you can do that without exposing it to air. There are decanters specially designed for vintage wines.

FYI, aerating and decanting serve different purposes. For their definition, see http://www.bettertastingiwne.com/taste.

With modern 2-in-1 aerating-decanting funnel, it is commonly use to replace each other.