The aim of decanting a bottle of wine is to separate the wine from the sediment. To do this, the wine is poured from its original bottle into another container, usually a carafe. It is most often done in the case of older wines and old ports that contain a considerable amount of sediment.

Twenty-four hours before serving the wine, the bottle should be stood upright so that the sediment accumulates at the bottom. Then all that needs to be done is to pour the wine into a carafe, slowly so that the sediment is not stirred up and transferred to the carafe. To be able to oversee the process better, you may wish to decant the wine in front of a light source.

Decanting is not obligatory: you can simply pour the wine into glasses, taking care that the sediment does not become mixed into the wine. It is also possible to remove the sediment by using a coffee filter.

Besides separating the wine from the sediment, the decanting process also helps aerate the wine, which is why younger wines are also sometimes decanted. The transfer from bottle to carafe should be done quickly in this case in order to place the wine into contact with as much air as possible.