How to Decant Wine or Port

A short video with John Frazier showing how to open and decant that special bottle of wine or port. Decanting the wine is done for two reasons.

Firstly for many wines that are aged in the bottle there can be a sediment and as John says it will not taste very good (the sediment).

Secondly the act of pouring the wine into a decanter gets air into the wine (particularly oxygen) and starts to open the wine up letting the wine breathe. Aerating the wine is helpful for a young wine or a wine that you feel needs softening. A young claret or other wine high in tannins can particularly benefit from aerating before drinking.