Do you decant?

OK - it's a rhetorical question some respects, but an unsolicited email arrived in my in box and I did click on it.
It was all about these strange decanters / carafes. More about art than decanting wine, I think, but what a great talking point for a dinner party.

http://the-strange-decanter.blogspot.com/

According to the blurb, they hold a bottle full.
If I had one, I'd be scared of breaking it.

Hello All-
I am new to the forums and a novice wine enthusiast.

I do decant most of my wines. I usually buy value wines under $25 and I've found that decanting them can sometimes make a big difference.

As to the carafes in the website mentioned, I do believe they are more a conversation piece. I don't see how they can give the wine much aeration.

I look forward to learning much from this group.

Regards,
Mike-

Mike - Welcome to the great group. I have learned much and shared a lot of information on these pages. This is a wonderful collection of people - I wish we could all get together for lunch every day.

Sue, I have yet to look at the link you provided buy I intend to as I am always looking for wine related items. I do decant but, until I read Mike's post, I hadn't thought about decanting 'everyday' wines. I like Mike's idea of decanting almost everything and I do recall reading here that decanting will tend to improve young wines. I'm now anxious to try it on my $7 Bogle merlot from Costco.

I almost never decant.

<img src="http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/userpix/58_strangecarafe_1.jpg" align="right">Hi Mike,
Welcome to the group. Hope you'll stick around.

Like you I think decanting is quite good for value wines, especially new releases, and young whites such as pinot gris. Just gives the wines a chance to shimmy off some of the tightness of youth.

The carafes in the website mentioned would be a great prezzie for the wine geek that thinks he/she has everything. Seems like there are very few made. So great 'collector's items too.

This pic I've posted that came in the email is Edition 1 - now sold out. But look at the size of it. Massive!

Cheers,
Sue

Sue, I have yet to look at the link you provided buy I intend to as I am always looking for wine related items. I do decant but, until I read Mike's post, I hadn't thought about decanting 'everyday' wines. I like Mike's idea of decanting almost everything and I do recall reading here that decanting will tend to improve young wines. I'm now anxious to try it on my $7 Bogle merlot from Costco.

Hi Jon,
Have inserted a pic of one of the decanters in the post above.
Decanting is something people only think of for older wines and they decant slowly and carefully, often over a candle to ensure they don't pour out any sediment from the bottle into the decanter.
When it comes to young wines, my decanting process is more of a vigorous slosh.
Cheers,
Sue

More about art than decanting wine, I think, but what a great talking point for a dinner party.

Here I am replying to myself but gulp, splutter, I just looked up the catalogue for Edition No. 3 and it is (gulp, splutter again) $4000.

I decant when I know I have a tannic red, but I probably don't do it as often as I should. I have a really nice cut crystal decanter that was one of 5(!) given to my parents for wedding presents. Thank goodness for computerized registries!

Sue: I'm with you on the fear of breaking the decanter. I'm way too spastic and klutzy to keep those decanters in one piece!

Very rarely decant these days - even for some wines (like this week's '93 Cepparello) that throw a massive sediment.

I guess with older wines I'm happier to have the evolution in the glass, rather than the additional aeration in the decanter - or at least concerned about over-aeration.

I agree with the younger wine / decant view, though I'm trying to drink wines a bit closer to notional 'peak', so less need as long as I stick to plan.

Sometimes it's just good to get the decanter out though

regards

Ian

I'll stick with my used Almeden bottles. For special occasions we still have a couple of Spirit of '76 cranberry juice bottles.

Only extremely tannic wines from youth, which I open by mistake. Not sure it makes much of a difference, but you at least know you are doing all you can. My wife gets really ticked at me for opening too young bottles.

Being a traditionalist, loving corks and all, the bottle to me is a thing of beauty, which I like to feel is participative. I know I can set it in front of me empty to look at, but it is not the same living thing, then.

Just cannot imagine using one of those things!!!!!

Decant? Sometimes hit and miss eh but many times just have a feeling slosh it around!! Delicate wines, a no-no in my book.

I'll stick with my used Almeden bottles. For special occasions we still have a couple of Spirit of '76 cranberry juice bottles.

I have a couple of the old Paul Masson ones. I also have one fancy crystal one that I received for Fathers Day a few years ago. I've used it once.

Never thought much of decanting until 2 years ago. Dinner at the Joel Palmer House in Willamette Valley. Ordered a bottle of Lemelson Thea's Selection PN, recent vintage. Was not overly impressed by the wine until near the end of the meal....when it opened up tremendously. Since then, we always vigorously decant young PNs. I also slowly decant older wines to leave the sediment in the bottle. Over a candle? Nah.

I read somewhere that in general an old age worthy wine would throw off about 30 mls of sediment. So if you mark your decanter at the 720 ml mark, who needs a candle?

Salute

Perhaps a wine with a very funky label would work well with any of THOSE decanters. Anyone have any suggestions?

More of a traditionalist - we use a standard Riedel decanter and since we drink mostly red wine (cabernet and syrah) the decanter gets used quite a bit.

Karen

Not as a rule (then again I do few things 'as a rule' to begin with), though certain young oaky reds, I find, do benefit with a bit of aeration in the decanter. I did use to regularly decant the Harrow Estates Baco and Foch, which always had a good dose of American oak and could be a bit disjointed upon opening. I wrote to winemaker Carlo Negri and told him to keep on making the wines because of their soundness and value. I also would regularly find that even up do a day's worth of aeration would help the wines to integrate - and indeed, any overtly disjointed red seems to benefit from some time to come together. I never ever decant old wines; if there's sediment, I have no problem at all with getting some in my glass.