Thoughts on decanting burgundy

[Nowell_Karten]

@Eric Egan

@alan weinberg

I decant old to remove sediment, young to aerate. I use a carafe, not a decanter with a large surface area. I don’t think this loses any part of the experience.

+1 -
I open hours in advance and decant into carafe a little while before serving.

After years of pop-and-pour (or decant-for-sediment and pour) for red Burgs, I’ve switched to essentially the above regimen: pulling the cork a few hours in advance and then decanting for sediment into a narrow decanter, shortly before serving. I’ve decided that whatever I’ve lost from not seeing the wine change during its first two hours in the glass, had I used a traditional pop-and-pour, has been greatly outweighed by the showing and the immediate pleasure of what’s now in the glass. However, as I only occasionally open red Burgs younger than 15-18 years old, my recommendations are not based on experiences with or are they an informed prescription for drinking young wines.

An interesting tangent/question is at what age does one need to start decanting their red Burgs for sediment? Last weekend, I opened a 2002 Burguet Gevrey-Chambertin “Mes Favorites,” and it threw a good bit of sediment.

[Adam_P]

Once I discovered the slow ox method, my use of decanting has been limited to unplanned bottles. Though, if I were to drink a young red burg, I think I would still decant.

[A1ex_H]

@john stimson

Decanting white burgs and not reds is a sentiment that several burg lovers have suggested in numerous other threads on the board. Jasper Morris recommends that approach in his burg book. (Coates recommends decanting both, feeling that it improves the wine, but only “at the last minute”, much as Gerhard has suggested).

Jasper always said to me to decant old whites and young reds. I’ve generally found that approach to be helpful. If anything I should be more aggressive decanting whites.

[Jerry_Hey]

I ordered a 2009 Coche Dury Meursault Perrieres at Troisgros and the sommelier suggested that it should be decanted. I went with his suggestion and the wine from the first glass on was showing well. It’s not usually my approach but with all the white Burgundies I’ve had that show so much better at the end of the meal, I might change my view on this.

[AlexS]

@Subu Ramachandran

I hear some always decant, some say never, some decant only young.

Yes.

[Tom_Reddick]

A lot depends on the vintage. 1988 is a very good example of a vintage where the wines often need to be decanted- and left in open decanter- for at least 2 hours prior to serving. 1986 behaved in much the same manner when it started coming around.

I only point this out because I have sat frustrated at tastings many times with 88s that were allowed to “air in the glass”, and then everyone was disappointed in a wine they never even gave a chance.

When in doubt, unless a wine is very old, I usually decant carefully and then stopper the decanter until serving time. How far in advance depends on vintage, and producer to some extent- you have to let your experience guide you.