I follow a lot of the conversations here but do not post much. But, I feel that I am learning a lot from the people here. One thing that I noticed is that some people decant wines and some splash-decant.

What is the difference? And, when should a person decant? And, when should a person splash-decant? Thanks.

You splash decant a young wine to oxygenate it and speed up its evolution.

An older wine is decanted carefully to remove the sediment.

Well, I am a little confused myself now. What is the difference? How is what Board_O just posted different? Can someone provide a clearer answer... (is the only difference, the sediment, and trying to filter it out?)

If I'm not mistaken, splash-decanting involves vigorous swirling of the decanter. Just "plain" decanting involves pouring the wine in the decanter and leaving it still.

This is what I thought the differance is;

Splash decanting is pouring the wine into the decanter while the decanter is vertical allowing the wine to hit the bottom of the decanter first (as to splash off the bottom). Most young wines will not have thrown any sediment so the rate of the pour is not as important.

Non-splash decanting involves holding the decanter at an angle to SLOWLY pour the wine into the decanter as to let the wine gently flow down the sides, thus also removing the wine from the sediment in the bottle. Typical with older wines for just the sediment seperation and possibly a little aeration.

Hmm, thought Board-O's explanation was pretty clear myself, but here goes.

Old Wine, decant carefully in order to remove any sediment. Store the old bottle standing up for days or even weeks before you intend to serve it. Once you are ready, handle the bottle as carefully as possible as to not stir up the sediment, you want it resting at the bottom of the bottle. Remove any foil so that you have a clear view of the wine as it is being poured, and pour it carefully and slowly into the decanter watching the neck. As soon as you see the sediment starting to come though in the wine as it is being poured, STOP and leave the remaining wine in the bottle.

Young wine/splash decanting - simply vigorously decanting in order to introduce oxygen into the wine. Some people use a special devicesuch as this in order to do it, or just recklessly pour the wine and swirl as much as possible in the decanter.

I just pour what is left in the bottle into a separate glass and leave it alone for awhile LCC. You can then drink the last glass after the sediment has settled to the bottom of the glass. Trying to filter it either doesn't work or if you use something that does work (like a coffee filter) then the taste of the wine is changed.

Filtering - I know of some folks that swear by cheesecloth for filtering, but I have not tried it. Jones, do you feel this alters the taste also?

I think cheese cloth changes the taste as well.

You could always find someone who works in a medical/genetics lab and borrow their centrifuge for that last little bit of sediment filled wine.

that may be an interesting experiment!

I have a $8,000 centrifuge I can use. Problem is that you need to use special containers since it is doing several thousand RPM's. I think this will definitely change the taste of the wine since proteins will be bottom as well as the sediment.

If you stand it up, use a candle and pour carefully, you don't lose much wine. I do use a stainless steel tea strainer for cork bits.

I asked this question "elsewhere" and the Queen replied that one could use a food blender to really aerate the wine. I think she was kidding....

And I use a wire mesh pewter filter to decant my vintage port, which of course throws a ton of sediment, but on those few occasions that I've used it for dry wines it has seemed a waste of time. The fine sediment still get through, and the big chunks usually stay in the bottle if one decants carefully. Same is true to a lesser extent for vintage port, but I always seem to get at least one big chunk of sediment no matter how careful I am.

I agree cheesecloth can change the taste. I have had good luck with using a stainless strainer with medical gauze (cut into squares). Roughly the same price as cheesecloth. This pulls out the fine sediment quite nicely. No impact on the wine, that I can tell.

bman,

She wasn't kidding -- they had the same serious discussion over on the Squires board. Theory being that a second or two of rapid blender-induced aeration is no worse than an hour of "standard" aeration.

My concern is at least two-fold:
1. shear forces induced by the whirling blades could cause damage to those tasty (& complicated) fermented wine juice byproducts, and

2. The oxydation of the wine requires surface area (GREATLY increased by the blender!), but also TIME and AVAILABLE OXYGEN in the container, as well as the physical limitations on the actual speed of interchange at the surface (it's not "infinity", or even close to it!).

My advice would be this: DON'T!

Any time I have ever used a blender (never with wine) it gives off that electrical smell from the motor, so my concern would be this would infuse with the wine.

Not even really a consideration on my part to use a blender. My 2000ml Erlenmeyer flasks work just fine.

This past Xmas Sharper Image was trying to sell some stupid (IMO) thing that was like a blender on a stick with an air pump that stuck down through the neck into the bottle. I think it advertised to be able to age you wine 10 years in 60 seconds or some fool thing like that.

If you want one of these things I'm sure you can find it over at Sharper Image. But first contact me. I've got this bottle of dehydrated gas that hydrates when you pour it into your wine. It is guaranteed to make every glass you pour it in to taste like 1992 Screaming Eagle. And it only costs a nickle (plus $29 shipping and handling). Send me a check and I'll send you some. (Maybe this post should be over on the commercial board??? Maybe not!)

While there is NO magic, I have a little aquarium pump with a hose and aerator. Stick it into a bottle of wine and it gets a lot of Oxygen to work on the phenols pretty quickly.

I just like to put a straw in and blow bubbles. Then I draw some wine in the straw and cover the end and use it to draw some wine out to taste. A turkey baster is also effective.