the.com/decant
pouring wine slowly so the dead grapes stay behind and the ghost wakes up
means To pour a liquid gently from one container into another, typically to separate clear wine from its sediment or to let it breathe.
from From Medieval Latin 'decanthare,' built from 'de-' (off, away) plus 'canthus,' the rim or lip of a vessel — so to decant is literally to tip the liquid over the edge. The 'canthus' itself came into Latin from Greek 'kanthos,' the corner of the eye, the word travelling from that little tilted angle of the face to the tilted spout of a jug. It surfaced in English through the language of the early chemists and alchemists, who needed a precise verb for pouring off the good stuff and leaving the dregs.
- the sediment
- Tannins clump into bitter crystals that ruin a sip
- the candle
- A flame behind the bottle reveals the sludge line
- oxygen trick
- Air softens harsh tannins in roughly thirty minutes
- young vs old
- Bold youngsters need it more than fragile antiques
- latin roots
- From decanthare, meaning to pour off the spout
barolo riserva — italian piedmont wine aged 5+ years in oak that benefits from decanting to open up its complex tannins
vintage port — portuguese fortified wine with heavy sediment that demands decanting to separate liquid from crusty deposit