Learn About The Grape

All About Decanting

By: Daniel Hoey

The basics of decanting old and young red wines.

Sean and Patty McRitchie

Decanting has two purposes: The first is to remove the sediment from a wine, and the second is allowing the wine to breathe. This typically applies to red wines as white wines do not usually need to be decanted.

Wines naturally have very small particles related to the contact with the wine skin during crush and fermentation that, over the years, settle out of the wine. That's why with older red wines, which have much more skin contact, you get more sediment. Most red wines over ten years old will have at least some sediment.

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The basics of decanting old and young red wines.

Decanting has two purposes: The first is to remove the sediment from a wine, and the second is allowing the wine to breathe. This typically applies to red wines as white wines do not usually need to be decanted.

Learn About the Grape with winemaker Matthew Loso

We were in Walla Walla, Washington right after a harvest that was sped along dramatically by a frost the previous week. I met with Matthew Loso, award-winning Washington state winemaker, and talked with him about harvest – the “crush”.

Top Ten Wine Destinations for 2012

Where people are planning to wine tour and taste in the coming year

A recent survey of U.S. respondents found 48 percent planned to visit a U.S. vineyard in 2012. The top ten planned destinations were:

How to Pair Wine with Chicken

When pairing wine with food, it is much more critical that you think about the sauce than the particular kind of meat. For example, because chicken is a light white meat...