Hello Everyone:

www.mollydookerwines.com/videos/mollyShake/mollyShake.html

Worth watching just to hear the funny music.

Anyway, I have no idea how much the shake actually helps, but I do know that it will not hurt the wine..........I did the Shake last Saturday when I opened a bottle of 2007 Gigglepot Cabernet (TN in the Aussie section). The wine was great......so I have no reason to doubt Sarah & Sparky on this........if anything, it helps their young wines aerate a little bit more. Hope this helps a little bit!

Cheers,

Alex

Thanks for your comments Alex - will check out your TN on the Gigglepot.

So, I gather that only less expensive wines, young wines would benefit from the "Shake?" Older vintages wouldn't - I'm guessing. Wouldn't want to Shake the '61 Lafleur....

You wouldn't want to shake anything with sediment.

I gave a young PN a rather vigorous decant tonight with good results. There was no jumping up and down but definitely high splashing. Wouldn't do it with an older wine. :)

Mark - I think that some young wines can benefit from a more aggressive form of aeration. A few '05 Chateauneuf's I've tasted really seemed to open up more with this type of approach to decanting. I am a believer in aeration and the positive affects it can bring to a young wine........though some are not.

And yeah, as Winetex says it would not be a good thing to shake a bottle of wine that has sediment!

Vine - thanks for your input. Seems like Mollydooker believes that the "Shake" in the bottle helps eliminate the nitrogen used in the bottling process (the YouTube video shows a foam at the neck after the bottle has been shaken).

Would decanting a young wine be just as likely to remove such gases?

I use a funnel with holes on the side of the stem to cause the wine to run in a thin sheet down the sides of the decanter. It helps remove a good bit of dissolved gas and also aerates the wine more than a straight decant. You can agitate the wine in the decanter, or clean the bottle and decant back into the bottle, for wines with sediment.

-Al

Wouldn't it seem that shaking the bottle helps to force air to more of the wine?  That foam settles like soda does and I would image that it could be a good way to quickly decant wine.