SUB-ZERO WINE BLOG

Corked wine has the smell and taste of wet, musty cardboard. If corks aren’t properly rinsed and dried this problem can occur. Once you have encountered a corked wine, you’ll know what it is – it is not subtle. Send it back! This is the main reason why so many wine producers are looking into screw caps and other cork substitutes for their wine closures.

Decanting is a process in which wine is taken from the bottle and transferred into another vessel (usually glass) in order to allow it to breathe. The wine can be filtered during this process to get rid of sediment. Not all wines have sediment, but old vintage port and older red wines often do and these wines are often decanting for this reason. People will decant through cheesecloth, wire mesh placed in a funnel or even use coffee filters. Beyond sediment, there are other reasons to decant wine. Some young white wines may have a sulfurous quality that can be removed by decanting. Decanting also lets red wine “breathe”, giving any volatile chemical compounds in the wine a chance to evaporate (“blow off”) so they’re not there when you serve it. And lastly, putting a wine – any wine – in an elegant decanter – can add a lovely visual element to a well-dressed table.