JimmyV
Central Connecticut
Wine Lover
Posts:4982
 | | 03/10/2005 9:04 PM |
| Splash decanting is referred to often, but I have never seen a definitive description of how to do it. Do you invert a bottle vertically into a captain's decanter and let it fly? Do you pour the wine down the side of the decanter, but with slightly more agitation than normal? Do you decant as normal (slowly, so as to remoe any solids) and then shake the decanter vigorously as if making a Martini? (This is how our server at Veritas in NYC did it. Hadn't seen that before, and never since.) Is there a preferred style of decanter (or other device like a funnel) for splash decanting?
Any and all thoughts please. | |
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PourQue
Barrel Racker
Posts:1766
| | 03/10/2005 9:27 PM |
| | My understanding is that it is simply inverting the bottle and "letting it rip". | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 03/10/2005 9:28 PM |
| | I dump it in a wide-mouthed carafe or decanter as rapidly as possibly without spilling. At home, I use a cheap carafe from some Paul Masson wine used for cooking eons ago. For dining out or when we have guests, I just pour it quickly into a decanter. | | | |
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AlexRed
Northern VA
Barrel Filler
Posts:1335
| | 03/10/2005 10:00 PM |
| Quote:
shake the decanter vigorously as if making a Martini? (This is how our server at Veritas in NYC did it. Hadn't seen that before, and never since.)
i would be a little concerned about that method.... wouldn't that be unnecessary roughness? hopefully the wine was better for it, but i would be flinching in my seat. wouldn't too much rough treatment cause something similar to "travel" shock? or what some people call bruising the wine?
even martinis react differently shaken vs stired....bruising the liquid?
or am i over reacting?
how was the shaken wine? no ill effects? | | | |
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JimmyV
Central Connecticut
Wine Lover
Posts:4982
| | 03/10/2005 10:22 PM |
| The wine didn't show any ill effect. (It was a '97 Insignia. Decanted in the normal, slow manner, and then shaken, not stirred.) But when I saw the somm shaking the decanter as if he was auditioning for the sequel to "Cocktail", I thought to myself: "What the f....." But Veritas is one of the top wine service restaurants in NYC, so I didn't say anything.
And I'm not so sure that travel shock (if it exists at all) is related to the shaking of the wine in that manner. There are lots of theories about travel shock, including the notion that it doesn't exist. But a quick 5 second shake is not likely to replicate the sloshing around that a bottle endures during transport. | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:12891
| | 03/10/2005 10:58 PM |
| jimmy,
i tend to decant that way as well. i slowly pour the wine into the decanter in case of any sediment, then i swill the wine around in the decanter very quick. i try to expose the wine to as much surface area as possible in the decanter. then i just let it sit for however long is needed. | | | |
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dbw4
Grape Puncher
Posts:902
| | 03/10/2005 11:41 PM |
| I remember talking about this somewhere and that it referred to a quick decant and then go right at the wine, as opposed to waiting for the wine to breathe for 30-180 minutes....
DBW | | | |
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wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts:11872
| | 03/10/2005 11:46 PM |
| I take one of those wide bottom decanters (maximum air exposure...why else splash decant?) turn the bottle straight upside down and splash that wine into the flat bottom of the decanter as roughly as possible. Then I shake the decanter a few times for good measure. Then I go remove all of my leather and have a relaxing smoke. | |
Joe
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Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
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Al_ksyrah
Barrel Filler
Posts:1023
| | 03/11/2005 3:12 AM |
| I use a funnel that directs the wine in small streams to the side of the decanter. I don't turn the bottle over and dump it quickly if there may be sediment (also it won't pour through the funnel that quickly). I often swirl it around a bit, but I only shake it if there is trapped CO2.
-Al | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 03/11/2005 3:17 AM |
| | I didn't even think it was necessary to mention that I don't dump wine if there's sediment. | | | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts:15701
| | 03/11/2005 4:24 AM |
| Jimmy V,
IMO there is definitely something to the "travel shock" theory. I have experienced it first hand. It's not that "travel shock" makes the wine taste that bad; it simply can taste better when it has settled down a bit.
The worst "shock" a finished wine goes through is "bottle shock". Try a wine out of the barrel and then try the wine just after it has been bottled; big time YUCK! Bottle shock can last for several months.
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Decanting... it depends on what you are decanating.
If a wine is old enough to have developed a lot of sediment it should not be splash decanted. Use a funnel (I use a glass funnel) that spreads the wine to cascade gently down the inside of the glass into the decanter.
If it is a "young" wine simply pour the bottle into the decanter. There is no need to turn the bottle upside down to make a "big" splash. Just regular pouring does the trick just fine. If you want to swirl or shake the decanter that's fine but imo not nescessary.And if you want it stirred, not shaken, you can get one of those miniature motor-boat motors from Sharper Image. Splash decanting works best with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, or other "lighter" wines. If you have a "big" Cab I don't really reccommend splashing it but I know many a Somm that does it. | | | |
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Budman
Master of Wine
Posts:11814
| | 03/11/2005 10:26 AM |
| davidn... I agree wholehearedly with your comments on bottle shock.
I opened an 01 Pride cab shortly after release. It was disjointed (just ask AI).
Six months later, a bottle of the same wine was fantastic.
As my father used to say... "Patience is a virtue."  | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13627
| | 03/11/2005 2:50 PM |
| | I generally splash decant younger wines (when I fel the need to decant) and then I pretty much just let it rip. I am a bit more careful for wines with a few years on them, though. | |
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JimmyV
Central Connecticut
Wine Lover
Posts:4982
| | 03/11/2005 2:57 PM |
| | I agree wholeheartedly on the bottle shock thing. But people often conflate bottle shock with travel shock. Bottle shock is a phenomenon unique to "just bottled" wine. But there is little evidence that traveling with a bottle that has been in your cellar a while has any ill effect, unless the bottle is an aged red, and traveling has caused the sediment to stir up. Traveling with a 3 year old Pinot or Chardonnay should have no effect on a wine. At least, none that I have noticed. However, I wouldn't travel cross country with a 1986 Cab and expect it to show well without resting a while. | |
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JimmyV
Central Connecticut
Wine Lover
Posts:4982
| | 03/11/2005 2:59 PM |
| Quote:
Do you invert a bottle vertically into a captain's decanter and let it fly? Do you pour the wine down the side of the decanter, but with slightly more agitation than normal? Do you decant as normal (slowly, so as to remoe any solids) and then shake the decanter vigorously as if making a Martini?
Interestingly, in answering the questions above, it appears that people do all of these. Hence the origin of the post. There does not seem to be a universally accepted procedure. | |
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Appreciative
Beaverton, OR
Grape Fermenter
Posts:405
| | 03/11/2005 4:50 PM |
| | Thanks for the "proper" term. My friends and I have always called it a "hard" decanting. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:12891
| | 03/11/2005 6:40 PM |
| Quote:
davidn... I agree wholehearedly with your comments on bottle shock.
I opened an 01 Pride cab shortly after release. It was disjointed (just ask AI).
Six months later, a bottle of the same wine was fantastic.
As my father used to say... "Patience is a virtue."
not where i'm from, she is a girl from a .....  | | | |
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Budman
Master of Wine
Posts:11814
| | 03/11/2005 7:29 PM |
| I said Patience, not Prudence!!!  | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:12891
| | 03/11/2005 10:52 PM |
| | patience or prudence, who cares? send them both over | | | |
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Bob Bressler
Napa Valley
Wine Lover
Posts:4767
| | 03/11/2005 11:20 PM |
| | I've found that double decanting has much the same effect as splash decanting - and safer when you are wearing white. | | | |
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