The art and ritual of decanting very old red wines is such a classic image, but one fraught with pitfalls.
The general idea is to let that red wine ?breathe,? as if without decanting the wine would suffocate. Older red wines are cooped up in bottles for decades, and letting a bit of air into the liquid breathes a bit of life into it, allowing the wine to expand and deliver its complexities.
Such an act also allows us to pour the wine off the sediment that usually forms in older wines, so we can drink a clear liquid unimpeded by sludge.
Updated: Sun Mar 20, 2016