Index
1- What is the decanting of the wine and why is it done?
Many times we have heard these typical terms of wine service. But do we know exactly what each one means?
The decanting and juggling of the wine are techniques typical of the wine service, which will provoke its aeration in the wine .
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The purpose of decanting the wine is to separate the sediments or sediments from the wine itself. Sediments can appear in a wine, either due to its long aging in the bottle, or because it is a question of wines of a long maceration with the skins in its elaboration; in which case, the coloring matter of the same is very high, giving it a high layer tone and a great aromaticity, but due to its poor clarification and filtration of the wine, it will tend to the appearance of sediments due to the precipitations of coloring matter, salts and tannins.
Now, although these sediments are not going to affect the quality of the wine , it is advisable to separate them before serving them, due to how unpleasant they can be in the mouth and aesthetically in the glass.
2- How do you make a correct decanting of a wine?
In any case, to carry out a decantation it will be necessary to avoid sudden movements or jerks in the transport of the bottle, so that the sediments or sediments do not spread in the bottle. Once the bottle is on the table, we will proceed to light the candle (this will allow us to see the sediments on the shoulder of the bottle before they fall) and proceed to uncork the bottle.
The decanting will be carried out by pouring the contents of the bottle very slowly and always on top of the candle, in a container called a decanter, from where the wine will be served once it has been decanted.
3- What is a wine jug? Objectives of the jarreo.
The technique of decanting a wine also causes the aeration of the wine, but if what we want is to aerate a wine, which does not present sediments, and therefore does not need to be decanted, what we will do is the jarreo technique.
The jarreo consists of the transfer of the wine, from its bottle to another container, usually a jug or flask. Through this operation we will cause the molecular breakdown of the wine, causing it to become oxygenated more quickly.
Rapid oxygenation is sought in especially hard or closed wines, but with this rapid oxygenation or aeration, we are not only eliminating negative aromas, but we are also eliminating positive aromas, so it will be up to each one to decide whether or not to decant or jarreo of the wine.
For this reason, the first Sommelier of Spain, Don Custodio López Zamarra , says that wines are comparable to trees, “I always compare wines with a tree, if it has a thin trunk, it will never decant, as it will weaken and round the wine. leaving it excessively soft, in this case we are talking about a classic Rioja or a Burgundy, these should never be decanted. On the other hand, there are wines that are like a robust tree, with thick and hard trunk and branches, in this case we are talking about the Riberas del Duero, Toro, Priorat and many more. By following these guidelines, it will be easier to understand when a wine should be decanted, taking into account that there is no rule without exception and that we must always taste all wines before performing any service ”
So if we dare to perform any of these techniques at home, we already have a good comparison to decide whether to decant or jar a wine or not.
4- Recommendations on the pre-opening of the wine.
Finally, another issue is the widespread idea of keeping the bottle of wine open for a few minutes so that it “opens the wine”. This practice will only serve to make the so-called “reduction stink” disappear, but with this technique we will never be able to aerate a wine if that is what we want, since the contact surface of the wine with the air through the neck of the bottle is practically null.
