Decanter steps

Before changing the bottle, please prepare a decanter, a funnel, and preferably a filter cloth to help filter the cork fragments flowing out of the bottle. Do not use coffee filter paper as a filter cloth to avoid leaving the smell of paper. Please prepare another light source, preferably a candle.

When opening the bottle, please be careful not to shake or turn the bottle, otherwise it is easy to lift up the sediment in the bottle. Cut the bottle cap and tear it down as far as possible. Wipe the mouth of the bottle with a clean damp cloth, and then dry it with a napkin. When opening the bottle, please use a long screw-drilled bottle opener (screw-pull type) to pull out the cork completely, and then carefully examine the bottom of the bottle through the light source to make sure that the sediment does not contaminate the liquid above.

When pouring wine, the gaze of the bottle holder should be in a vertical line with the wine bottle and the light source below the bottle. The distance between the light source and the decanter is about 15 cm. When you start to change the bottle, simply tilt the bottle gradually and slowly fill the decanter with the wine. It takes about one minute to change a bottle of 750ml wine. After most of the wine flows out of the bottle, the wine holder can use the light source below to carefully control the poured wine, pour out only the clear liquid, and discard the chaotic sediment left in the bottleneck. Please do not stand up the wine bottle during the sobering process, otherwise the sediment will immediately contaminate the clear liquid, which is difficult to remedy.

In the restaurant, you should stand the bottle upright for at least 30 minutes before the “changing bottle” so that the sediment can fully sink to the bottom of the bottle; in your own home, if you want to drink tomorrow night, you should put it on the wine rack today. Take down the bottle of old wine and keep it upright. During the "changing bottle", you need to light a candle and place it 15 cm below the shoulder of the wine bottle in order to observe the flow of the sediment.

As for how long it takes to sober up, due to the difference in variety, vintage, brewing process and storage conditions, there is no precise concept of time. Sommeliers rely on experience and feeling to grasp. French wine magazine "La Revuedu Vinde France" once organized 7 top sommeliers to conduct a test experiment on 10 bottles of 1995 vintage wines from different regions by blind tasting. The results show: "Change the bottle to the decanter" There are 4 bottles with the best wine-serving plan “30 minutes for sobering”, and 2 bottles with the best wine-serving plan “from changing the bottle to the decanter for 2 hours”, and “open the bottle and let it stand for 2 hours in the bottle” is the best There are 2 bottles in the wine-serving plan, and there is no difference in the performance of the other two bottles in the above-mentioned three and "pouring into the glass after opening" and other wine-serving plans.

The general practice is to pour the red wine into the decanter for a few hours after opening the bottle, and allow the red wine to fully contact the indoor air before it can be drunk directly. Of course, there is also a quick decanter.