Is it wise to decant your wine before it’s time? And, for that matter, when is the right time to decant your wine? And why decant your wine to begin with??

When you are drinking a young red wine, or a newer bottle of red, when you decant your wine, it releases the oxygen in the wine and also the taste and smell of the wine is cleaner and clearer.

To decant a young red wine, pour it close to the side of the decanter, and swirl it around. The more it splashes, the better it will taste. Let it sit for a bit in the decanter, swirl it around occasionally, then enjoy a fabulous glass of red!

The older wines can have sediment that settles, from the cork as well as from the barrel that it was aged in. Decanting an older bottle will help keep the sediment out of your glass and away from your mouth, which really is quite yucky!

Decanting an older bottle of wine takes more than just a simple place to pour the wine, you will also need a light, which will allow you to see all the particles when you pour the wine from the bottle into your decanter.

The trick is to pour slowly, so when the sediment reaches the neck of the wine bottle, you stop pouring and set it back down again to allow the bits and pieces to once again float to the bottom. Rinse and repeat until you get as much out of the bottle as possible, while leaving the sediment in the bottle. Enjoy your decanted aged wine!