I have some older Rioja in frosted bottles. Tried to decant one and wasn’t up to the challenge. Does anyone have any tricks up their sleeve?
If frosted, do you mean like Faustino?
Whatever it is though, I’m not sure why you would decant, esp if it’s an older one.
As Greg says (if I understood correctly), most old Rioja were severely filtered, so not much sediment
But in any case a brighter light (high power LED) should work
if youre worried about it, you can always just make sure you leave a little in the bottle. make sure whoever it is being enjoyed with knows there is some left in the bottle still if they’re willing to risk a little sediment for that last little hit of rioja.
Dale - not so much filtered as left in barrels for a long time before bottling so there’s rarely much sediment, unlike wines that were bottled early and then aged in bottles.
Yes, faustino. Decant for sediment primarily. some older rioja has had very little sediment, but some has had plenty. also, the claim that aged Rioja doesn’t need any air has not at all been true for me. Numerous bottles have been near dead upon opening, dramatically better with 1-3 hours of air. Does the wine need decanting, or does the bottle just have to be open with a glass poured off for that time? Not sure about that one.
I basically just left 1/2 a glass in the bottle–couldn’t see enough to tell otherwise… had some fine sediment.
It can be a problem with dark Port bottles too. To answer the question:
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Keep an eye out for sediment emerging from the bottle, and then stop. Haven’t tried this myself, but I know someone who regularly uses this method rather than putting a light under the bottle
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Use a decanting filter of some sort. The wire mesh ones work well only for coarser sediment. Otherwise coffee filter paper or similar - just filter the last bit if you have concerns about taint from the paper, but I have never noticed any problem
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Towards the end of the decant, pour the wine into a glass. When you can see the sediment in a glass it is a lot easier to decide how to deal with it. Maybe leave it for some time to settle, or if it is coarse maybe that is not necessary. Then pour the liquid into the decanter, or just carefully drink it. Or maybe it is so thick you need to chuck it.
Didn’t wiseguys use the word “frosted” to mean killed?
You might be storing and drinking your wines too cold.
I do this automatically with every wine I decant. Takes the guessing out of it!
Thanks for that point. I’ll send Santa Claus a note and see how he does it. (decanting, that is).
But I would stick with the frosted Riedel glasses. Nice touch.