Though wrapped in an aura of luxury and flashes of fine crystal, the process of decanting wine is really a very basic technique that can enhance the enjoyment of almost every bottle.
That’s something I’ve known for decades, even though I never spend the small bit of time required to do so on the more than 300 bottles I uncork every month in my work for Wine Enthusiast. With decanting earning a lot more attention across social media sites like TikTok and on popular series like The Gentleman in recent years, it felt like the right time to see if I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.
What is double decanting?
“We decant a lot at the restaurant,” explains Tristan Pitre, the wine director at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California. “People who eat here tend to be drinking the wine right away, and both the whites and red wines benefit from that extra air.”
That goes for older wines from the resort’s more than 12,000 bottles, including verticals of Petrus and Chateau d’Yquem.
“We definitely decant an older wine, but it’s to pull it off the sediment more than anything,” says Pitre. “There are very few things that we are not open to decanting.” (Natural-leaning reds are one category that can get more mousey with more air, for instance.)
Double decanting takes the process up another notch. That’s when the wine is aerated and taken off the sediment by pouring into an initial vessel, then is returned the original bottle, which, at least in restaurants, is usually rinsed of sediment.
While you can use any decanter for this process, there are special products that make it easier, like the Recanter, which attaches to a wine bottle with a drip-proof silicone seal.
“Double decanting for me is about making sure the wine is served in the best way for the guests, letting the wine be able to breathe while keeping the actual bottle presentation intact,” says Travis Padilla, who currently works at Il Buco in Manhattan and double-decants more than 100, mostly larger format wines each year during La Festa de Barolo.
He first learned of decanting from Yannick Benjamin at Contento in East Harlem and Paul Grieco at Terroir in Tribeca. “For me, it’s just another way to be more personal with the guest and build on the story of the wine,” he says.
Pitre agreed, even though he doesn’t often take the extra step of double decanting at San Ysidro Ranch, unless a guest is staying multiple days and picks their wine from the cellar in advance.
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