Decanting

[Tim F]

Looking forward to opening a "new" bottle of vintage Maderia and decanting in preparation for a one-man tasting on Christmas Eve. That got me thinking about decanting. I typically decant in a modest, simple, modern wine decanter and cover with cheesecloth when I am decanting for a day or more. I do not use a candle or flashlight, but do take care to keep the sediment in bottle as much as possible and out of the decanter. After decanting for the prescribed period of time, and pouring the night's tasting into an appropriate glass, I return the wine to bottle via funnel and re-cork. I pour subsequent tastings directly from bottle.

A friend of mine decants similarly, but pours the remaining wine from the bottle after decanting through a fine mesh bar strainer into the decanter and discards the sediment in the strainer.

Another friend also decants as I do, but finds any and all sediment distracting. He discards the last 1/4 oz or so of wine from the bottle with the sediment, rinses the bottle with distilled water and lets dry while the wine is decanting -- ultimately returning the wine to bottle some hours/days later and re-corking.

So how do you prefer to decant Madeira?

[Roy Hersh]

Good question!

I can't say that I typically find much sediment in Madeira bottles, but on rare occasions it does happen. I've never seen anywhere near the amount that a 25+ year old Vintage Port can throw though. So decanting for me at least, is really about allowing the wine to bloom with air time.

If I know there will be some sediment, (I've never seen any in a D'Oliveiras bottling for example) I will then put some cheese cloth into a funnel and strain out the entire bottle into decanter, catching nearly every particle in the cheese cloth. I will leave the wine in an open decanter at slightly cooler than room temperature for 24 hours or a week, depending on the producer, the vintage and especially ... how long ago the bottling took place.

In the case of a bottle that was put into the marketplace in the past decade, much less time will be needed (24 hours is my norm on the short side) and even that is not a requirement but a personal preference. Madeira that was bottled long ago, needs far more time to sit in an open decanter to get rid of any "bottle stink" which some call, "bottle sickness" that may linger. If it is a very rare and precious bottling that is also ancient, like a 1795 Terrantez for example, then it deserves to be watched very carefully as sometimes these need more delicacy and are best, soon after decanting. So it really does make a huge difference to experiment and learn and read and pay attention to what others with lots of experience are doing and hopefully, Tim, you will have far more responses than just mine.

[Tim F]

Thanks for the response, Roy. I have had some sediment in Madeira. But as you noted, not like Port. As to D'Oliveira, my friend's 1910 Verdelho had a bit of sediment.

Thanks also for the funnel and cheesecloth method. Great idea!

On length of time for decanting, I generally follow the 1 day for every ten years in the bottle guideline (not vintage, but time since bottled). That said, I'll break that rule every time in favor of doing what tastes best to me!

[Tim F]

OK...the 1905 D'Oliveira Verdelho is in the decanter in preparation for Christmas Eve.

Apparently, no one else decants.

A little more conversation around here would be a good thing. It goes well with Madeira.

[Moses Botbol]

I don't normally associate sediment with Madeira (except real old bottles), but I run everything through cheese cloth if it's going into a decanter. Why not?

[Philippe Borel]

I decant. I am a follower of the great Hersh decanter method . You know, cheesecloth etc.
Useless the other day with a bottle of Miguel Jardim Boal Velho '1906 old wine etc, etc'. No sediment. Perfect cork.
But a good idea at noon for one of it's brothers (bottle number 077). One full table spoon on sediment.
Had a sip before moving the liquid in the decanter. Awfully promising..... tightly nit, plenty of grip, and that
extraordinary beguiling, seductive dimension; hallmark of great Madeiras. We will take stock tomorrow.
Sorry, i don't know how to describe Madeira in the usual vocabulory of the forum. Fruits, dry fruits, nuts etc. I think sometimes
that i am at the fruit counter of the corner store.
My first encounter was in 1964 with a case of Cossart Bual 1895. I fell in love... I make no excuse, extend no apologies if my words are different from
the forums contributors. However are we not all brothers celebrating an extraordinary wine in our own limited way?

[Roy Hersh]

Glad to see others starting to participate in this thread and many others here on Madeira. There's been an ebb and flow over the years with new people coming and going but a few of the old guard are still here and participating in great Madeira topics. That is much appreciated and I personally love reading these threads!

[Eric Ifune]

I decant those wines in bottle for several decades; both to aerate the wine (old bottles really need it) and to see if there is any sediment. My experience is that with old bottles of Madeira, most of the sediment has stuck to the sides of the bottle. I'll redecant back into the original bottle after cleaning the bottle. (Mainly because I don't have enough decanters!)Sometimes it takes some work to remove any stuck sediment, but hot water and lots of agitation ususally works.