Decanting - a different slant!

[Peter Creasey]

Reference is made to Nathan's post about long decant times of red wines.

On a different slant, you sometimes see people recommending decanting of white wines, especially perhaps Chardonnay-based wines.

I've never understood that and have been underwhelmed whenever I have encountered it. I have never done it myself.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind this and whether there is any real facts/science that would favor decanting white wines?

Thanks!

. . . . . Pete

 

[Sharon Bowman]

All "white" wines are actually opaque when behind green glass. If you look closely when just starting to pour, you can see their dark color (almost mahogany). If you decant them, they return to white more readily.

Chardonnay—which is correctly spelled chardoonay, after the cardoon vegetable—has a whiter color (like the off-white stalk of the cardoon), and this is why it does not need to be decanted.

 

[SFJoe]

 

[Michael K.]

Snark bait indeed, but I find some Slovenian and Friulian wines from the Carso - both skin-contact and non- - benefit from air. Rather, they drink better on the second day & w/ age, but we do what we can in the restaurant biz. Of course, a decant is just the cure for an establishment that keeps their whites too cold.

 

[Bob Parsons Alberta]

I always decant white Musar when I can find it. Have a feeling some folks will say decant some of the older Spanish white Riojas too?

 

[Bill Lundstrom]

i often decant realy young whites (and reds) to get them to open up . am i doing something wrong?

plus the wines look beautiful in decanters,

 

[SFJoe]

I decanted one bottle of dry riesling, one old sweetish Vouvray, one middle-aged dry Vouvray, and one Sancerre last night. Plus some reds.

But I mostly poured them back into their bottles so that they were easier to keep sorted.

I didn't decant the Trebbiano.

 

[Jay Miller]

I find white burgundy and young German riesling almost always benefit from decanting.

 

[Michael Lewis]

And Austrian Riesling.

 

[Peter Creasey]

originally posted by Michael K.: Snark bait indeed

Michael, To my surprise!

originally posted by Michael K.: a decant is just the cure for an establishment that keeps their whites too cold.

I hadn't thought of that benefit.

originally posted by Bill Lundstrom: i often decant realy young whites (and reds) to get them to open up . am i doing something wrong?

Bill, To me, more often than not, decanted whites end up seeming eviscerated.

originally posted by Bill Lundstrom: plus the wines look beautiful in decanters

Another factor that hadn't occurred to me.

originally posted by Jay Miller: I find white burgundy and young German riesling almost always benefit from decanting.

Jay, Chardonnay-based wines often seem to end up faded or bland to me after being decanted.

Rieslings are a good example of wines that can benefit.

CONCLUDING:

I guess I'll have to think about rethinking my notions with respect to the decanting of pigmentally challenged wines sometimes being beneficial.

. . . . . Pete

 

[Ignacio Villalgordo]

originally posted by Bob Parsons Alberta:
Have a feeling some folks will say decant some of the older Spanish white Riojas too?

Yes. Old sherry too

 

[John McIlwain]

Pouring white into decanter is way easier than dusting.

 

[David Erickson]

originally posted by Michael Lewis:
And Austrian Riesling.

And Gruner Veltliner, for that matter. In the way long ago, even before Tom Colicchio, we used to recommend double-decanting on the morning of the day of intended consumption, warning people (while wagging the forefinger, of course) that if the didn't do it, the wine would taste like water that had been used to cook green peas. I don't actually remember tasting any Nigl ever that tasted that way, but back then I did as I was told.