If you’ve taken advantage of our latest special offer you’ll want to know how to serve the Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste 2007, which is why this week the Ideal Wine Company reveals how to use a decanter.
Wine’s a Volatile Tipple
You don’t build a reputation as a buyer and seller of reasonably priced fine wines – like the Ideal Wine Company has – without learning one thing.
Wine can be a volatile drink. If you don’t serve a particular type of wine in the way it’s supposed to be served, you do yourself a major disservice. Failing to serve wine appropriately can deprive you of the true experience the vintage in question has the ability to provide.
Why Should You Decant Red Wine?
Take red wine for example. A heady tipple with a complex character, any expert will be quick to tell you that if you want to serve red wine right, you pour it into a decanter first.
Essentially, drinkers used to decant a red before they poured it into a glass because wines used to be stored in barrels. Therefore, they needed to decant it in order to separate it from the physical matter that can accumulate in a classic vintage from this type of storage.
These days however, whilst this applies to luxury vintages still stored in the barrel i.e. the Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste 2007, wine is decanted for a different reason. It separates wine from sediment and aerates it, facilitating a smoother tasting experience.
A Guide to Decanting Wine
Decanting may sound easy, but it’s a process. In order to maximise that process effectively, use the following steps whenever you decide to decant a bottle of your favourite red…
- Assemble your tools – corkscrew, decanter and obviously, the bottle.
- Use the corkscrew to open the bottle carefully, ensuring that stray bits of cork are unable to find their way into the vintage.
- Remove any foil at the neck of the bottle, so you can see any sediment as you pour.
- Hold the bottle in one hand and the decanter in the other, titling the latter so it sits at a 45 degree angle.
- Pour with a gentle, steady movement to ensure you don’t disturb any sediment, so that it doesn’t find its way into your decanter.
- If you see any sediment passing through the neck of the bottle, take that as your cue to stop pouring.
A Perfectly Decanted Vintage
From there, all you need to do is let the red sit for half an hour, and you’ll have a perfectly decanted vintage. Once you’ve let it aerate, you can be sure your red will provide you with a drinking experience your taste buds will rush post haste to thank you for.
