Just Breathe: Wines that Deserve to be Decanted
>Read article on Palm Beach Illustrated<
We’ve all been there: you crack open a nice bottle, but it just isn’t striking a chord. Don’t give up! Wine is a living thing, and sometimes it needs to take a deep breath before it can express its true self fully. Enter decanting.
Not every bottle needs this treatment. Your average $20 Chianti? Probably fine straight from the bottle. But certain wines practically beg for a little air time.
Take red Bordeaux. These structured, tannic wines often arrive at your table with an underwhelming flavor, not revealing much aroma beyond the oak vessels they were aged in. But give them an hour in a decanter and they’ll completely transform. Northern Rhône Syrah follows similar logic; these powerhouse wines need time to shed their initial grip and reveal the complexity hiding underneath all that muscle. Then there’s the curveball: dry Grand Cru Riesling from Germany. (Yes, white wine in a decanter isn’t heresy.) These concentrated, mineral-driven bottles often benefit from aeration, especially when they’re young and tight.
The bottom line? Decanting isn’t a pretentious parlor trick; it’s practical and can change disappointment into awe with just a bit of patience. Below are three examples of wines that benefit from a nice decant.
2021 Chateau Haut-Segottes Saint Emilion Grand Cru, France or Try this
For a complex, age-worthy Bordeaux, this wine is relatively young. After a good decant, this wine will turn from a solo violin player into a cohesive orchestra of aromas, flavors, and textures.
2021 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage, France
Syrah from the northern Rhône can be restrained and aromatically a bit off-putting upon opening. With about an hour of air, aromas and flavors of dried herbs, smoked meat, and juicy dark fruit will reveal themselves in all their glory.
2023 Schäfer-Fröhlich Schiefergestein Bockenauer Riesling, Germany or Try this
This wine is a declassified Grand Cru (aka Schiefergestein), and wow, is it a roller coaster of complex aromas and flavors. Think: herbal tincture meets fresh green apple and so much more. It can benefit from a one- or two-hour decant.
