Is there a more debated question in the world of wine service than whether to decant or not? Does it help a wine unfurl, or can it damage its delicacy? Is the act of pouring wine into a stunning decanter simply for show? Does it matter if the wine is youthful or mature? Westgarth Wines asked leading Bordeaux estates the question, “To decant or not to decant?”

The answer? It depends…

For some Bordeaux vignerons, decanting is an act of enological near violence, and a decision not to be taken lightly. Pierre-Oliver Clouet, general manager at Château Cheval Blanc in Saint-Émilion, espouses this view.

“I'm not a huge fan of decanting,” he told Westgarth Wines. “What you appreciate when you don't decant is at the beginning. The wine is shy and delicate, with floral aromas. You wait one or two more minutes, and the wine shows more ripe aromas, density, and intensity, so you can appreciate the evolution. I think that the best way to appreciate a bottle is to open it and pour it into the glass immediately. The wine could be closed, the wine could be austere. You may have to swirl it, wait, and taste it again. If you decant, you homogenize the taste of your bottle.”

Also in Saint-Émilion, Julien Barthe, who co-owns the Premier Grand Cru Classé B estate, Château Beau-Séjour Bécot, with his wife, Juliet, agreed.

“When you decant wine, you lose a bit of the flavor. What is the perfect wine? Is it the wine that waits for two hours in the decanter? Or is it the wine that you pour into the glass, and you discover the first impression, the aromatic expression? After half an hour, you have a different aromatic expression, and after one hour, when you have the wine in your mouth, and you pour again, you say, "Wow, I love the evolution of this wine."

At the other end of the spectrum, several estates told Westgarth Wines they swore by decanting, but the vintage was critical to guiding the approach. Most were adamant that young wines benefited from aeration through decanting, while older vintages merited a more tailored philosophy.

Vincent Millet, general director at Château Calon-Ségur, a Third Growth in Saint-Estèphe, spoke of how the house broached the practice.

“Today, we have wines that are both fresh and have powerful tannins. Our recommendation for young wines is to let them breathe through decanting a few hours before tasting, because the aromas will be released much more easily,” he said. “As for the older wines of Calon Ségur, one might think they should be opened at the very last moment, meaning one to two hours before tasting. But it turns out that for certain vintages, you can even open them the day before. These are wines that will be remarkable when tasted.”

When it comes to both young and old wines, Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, manager at Château Angelus in Saint-Émilion, had a different angle. “If we're talking about a very old wine, I'd say you can decant it, but at the last moment. For young vintages, you can decant them the day before you drink them if you want them to have the full opening and to really have the aromas blossoming.”

Ferréol du Fou, commercial director at Premier Grand Cru Classé B house, Château Troplong Mondot in Saint-Émilion, took a different stance about old vintages. “For vintages higher than 20 years, just open the bottle. There’s no need to decant,” he explained. “The wine is too fragile.”

Bruno Borie, manager and proprietor of Second Growth, Saint-Julien estate, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, spoke about the dual-edged impact of oxygen. “It's more a question of bringing life. Again, oxygen is wonderful because oxygen is life, but it's also death. When something is oxidized, it's dead. So, you need to be just precise or precise in your decanting”.

He went on to say that the grape variety played a part and that the house had also been influenced by its British merchants. “I know that some sommeliers like to decant all the vintages at the last minute, probably for other regions, and probably for more Merlot-based wines, it works,” he explained. “However, for Cabernet Sauvignon, I don’t think it works. I’ve also learned from traditional English sommeliers or merchants that, if a wine has survived 50 years, it can survive three or four hours. When a wine is ten to 20 years old, I think 30 minutes to an hour before tasting. Wines from the 70s, 60s, or even 50s can easily go to an hour and a half.”

If you want to get the timing of a wine’s opening, decanting, and unfurling perfect, whether young or old, the duration of a meal also has to be considered, he added. “You have to think about how long you're going to sit at the table.”

Château La Conseillante in Pomerol has devised a very practical and user-friendly approach towards decanting. “When you open a case of Conseillante, you have a booklet detailing decanting instructions,” general manager Marielle Cazaux told Westgarth Wines. “If it's a young vintage, from zero to 10 years old, our advice is to decant for a minimum of one hour. Between ten and 20 years, you just have to open the bottle for half an hour. After 20 years, it's better if you put the bottle upright the day before to let the sediment settle in the bottle and decant it just before you eat.”

Likewise, for Philippe Bascaules, managing director at First Growth, Château Margaux in the Haut-Médoc, the aeration that decanting offers is just one part of the equation. Sediment management is equally important.

“There are two reasons to decant. First, it's to allow some oxygen in the bottle, to make the wine evolve a little bit. Of course, we have to do that with the young wines, and especially young and concentrated wines. They need more oxygen than old and less concentrated wines,” he told Westgarth Wines. “Then you have a second reason to decant. It's to eliminate the lees that we have at the bottom of bottles of old wines. In this case, we should do it before we drink it. And if the wine is very old, we have to decant just a few minutes before because the oxygen can damage the wine.”

While the aeration and sediment settling aspect of decanting is fundamental, there’s an aesthetic side also worth considering, according to Basile Tesseron, general manager of Fourth Growth, Chateaux Lafon Rochet, in the Médoc.

“There's a performance to decanting that is also important. You know that when you are decanting a wine, the person who is with you understands that the wine is important.”

Christian Seely, director of AXA Millésimes, owner of Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, a Second Growth in Pauillac, thought that the decorative facet of decanting was valuable.

“We normally decant wines a couple of hours before we drink them, something like 11 in the morning if we're going to have a wine with lunch. There's also the pleasure of using a beautiful decanter,” he said.

Jean Triaud, owner of Fourth Growth Château Saint-Pierre in Saint-Julien, thinks a combination of bottle breathing and the visual appeal of decanting work hand-in-hand.

“The best way for all wine is to open the bottle in the morning for lunch, or even for dinner, and let the oxygen do its job naturally through the bottle,” he explained. “Then, one or two hours before the meal, you can pour the wine into a decanter, because it could be nice on the table.”

How do you decant? Is it a mix of practicality and visual style? Let us know on our socials.

Want to read more? Take a look at some of our other blogs:

• • Wine labels Part I: An intriguing history
  • Wine labels Part II: Inspiration behind Bordeaux designs
  • First wine memories: Bordeaux winemakers open up