I have heard (and occasionally experienced) that some whites can benefit from decanting/aeration just as reds do, but I don’t generally practice this myself. I want to know:
-Do you decant whites usually/often?
-How does one choose which whites to decant?
-How long in advance to decant? Any difference in time vs. reds?
I always try to use the slow-O approach, a la Audouze, for white Burgs and German wines, the two types of whites I drink most. Open them several hours early, or more. Good wines definitely will respond to this approach, just as reds do. Young Germans that show sulfur on the nose will probably need a decant and 45 minutes, at least, for the sulfur to dissipate.
Afternoon all,
I usually decant young white Burgundy, it can improve markedly with even many hours breathing time.
Of course, no point in decanting old white Burgundy as it is already oxidised…
Cheers,
David.
Decant white wines? Absolutely YES.
Especially younger wines (just like red—same rules apply).
But… I pretty much don’t decant many wines at all. One of the exciting things about drinking wines IMO is seeing how the wine evolves as it sits in the glass. Pour a nice 6oz. pour and take an hour or more to drink it. Take a taste every five or 10 minutes and note how the wine has evolved over that time. It’s really interesting and educational.
Try this with a “young” Sauternes (±20 years old). It is really amazing drinking it as it evolves.
Concur with the nice gentleman in the red coat…of the handful of young white burgs I have opened the last several weeks, a few hours of air really evolved the wines–this was a consistent find, most recently with Sauzet Champ Canet. I simply drank these from bottle and the last glass was the best on nearly all of them and so knowing that, I would have offered a short decant in the assumption we were going to drink the bottle at one sitting. OTOH, if I am going to enjoy the same bottle over 2-3 nights, I would not decant.
I almost always decant Haut Brion Blanc when I have it. Very young White Burgs or young vintage Champagnes, like 2002 Dom, are also good examples of whites I might decant.
Last weekend, as part of an experiment for a-long-aeration skeptic, I aerated two Dauvissat Sechets, 1999 and 2000 in open decanter for 5-6 hours. They were both nice and the 2000 showed better. The next day left in the decanter, the '99 was significantly the better wine and better…as was the 2000. Pretty dramatically so. Both were much better than they had been the night before.
The next night , the skeptic aerated in open decanter for an hour or so a '99
Roulot Meursault Les Luchets and a 2000 Niellon Chassagne Clos St. Jean. The Niellon was slightly more enjoyable, though neither really was; both were very tight. Left in decanter, they were both excellent the next morning. The Roulot had really come alive and was, obviously, the classier wine.
Shockingly, a Georges Vernay 2002 Condrieu (Terrasses de l’Empire), aerated for a few hours in hopen decanter showed well the first day…and in the 2/3 empty bottle was good the next day, too. It was still holding quite well in the same bottle two days later. Even I, a big believer in aeration of red and white burgs of all ages, was shocked with this viognier.
The skeptic, a guy with lots of experience and two visits to Burgundy, was much less skeptical by the end of the weekend, and told me so. He aerated a Boxler '99 Brand a few days later and said it was superb. (I don’t think riesling benefits as much as pinot noir and chadonnay do, from significant aeration.)
Last weekend, as part of an experiment for a-long-aeration skeptic, I aerated two Dauvissat Sechets, 1999 and 2000 in open decanter for 5-6 hours. They were both nice and the 2000 showed better. The next day left in the decanter, the '99 was significantly the better wine and better…as was the 2000. Pretty dramatically so.
The next night , the skeptic aerated in open decanter for an hour or so a '99
Roulot Meursault Les Luchets and a 2000 Niellon Chassagne Clos St. Jean. The Niellon was slightly more enjoyable, though neither really was; both were very tight. Left in decanter, they were both excellent the next morning. The Roulot had really come alive and was, obviously, the classier wine.
Shockingly, a Georges Vernay 2002 Condrieu (Terrasses de l’Empire), aerated for a few hours in hopen decanter showed well the first day…and in the 2/3 empty bottle was good the next day, too. It was still holding quite well in the same bottle two days later. Even I, a big believer in aeration of red and white burgs of all ages, was shocked with this viognier.
The skeptic, a guy with lots of experience and two visits to Burgundy, was much less skeptical by the end of the weekend, and told me so. He aerated a Boxler '99 Brand a few days later and said it was superb. (I don’t think riesling benefits as much as pinot noir and chadonnay do, from significant aeration.)
P.S. Yesterday morning, I opened and tasted an Ampeau '93 Volnay Santenots. It was tight and not showing much. I left it in open decanter for 9 hours and it was really singing by dinner. It was, however, unimproved this morning, so…
I decant a majority of the white wines I serve, especially young, compacted, complex chardonnay and rhone whites. Snappy/fresh wines that benefit from a slightly lower serving temperature often don’t get decant treatment but many should; long aeration takes the acidic edge off a Muscadet while retaining fruit precision, for example, but maybe a slow-ox in the fridge for a few days followed by a gentle decant to warm up is even better.
Aeration is no substitute for age in red wines for several reasons, including texture and tannin integration, but in some cases I wonder I might prefer a white with 2 years of bottle age, decanted, over the same wine with 5+ years in the bottle and less total fruit to express.
For me, the longer a wine has been in bottle, the longer the decant time; white or red. Most Madeira is white and some need weeks in the decanter to show their best!
One nagging technical detail…how do you maintain the white wine’s temp in the decanter (fridge, on ice, etc.)?
Nate,
I use a small insulated picnic bag, such as the ones sold in supermarkets, with a small gel-filled “freezer block” inside. If you prefer the slow oxygenation route, where you just pull the cork hours ahead of time, one or two bottles will easily fit in. If I decant, I use a carafe, which has the advantage (I think) of a moderate surface area, and, it will also fit in s small cooler.
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I often decant white rhones. Especially the older ones (10+ years). I like watching them evolve in the glass, and will pour a glass before decanting, but then will decant the rest of the bottle. They often just get better and better and I can then watch the 2nd glass start from a more evolved state (a “kick start”) to see how it evolves.
To keep temperature I will either chill the wine before opening so it can get to the proper temp given the decant time, or use an ice pack under the decanter. One of the easiest things is to decant from the cellar, and 10 minutes or so before it is ready to be served throw into freezer. That way you help the chemical kinetics of oxygen uptake with “warmer” temps, but can still serve properly.
I also have seen, but am not quite a believer yet due to lack of experience, with decanting champagnes. This happend a few times during my France trips with michelin starred restaurants sugggesting a champagne decant. I thought they would lose all the bubbles, they don’t. And yes they got better as a rule. Something to explore.
I almost always decant white Burgs when very young and very old. How long really depends on how long they take to open really!
Almost all German RIeslings from Spatlesen upwards get decanted too. I find that they generally benefit from a little air no matter how young or old they are (caveat, I have never tasted anything older than 1971, so cannot comment on really, really old vintages).
Better young white Bordeaux and most Sauternes also seem to benefit from decanting.