How to Decant Aged Bordeaux: Sediment, Timing and Technique

If any wine is synonymous with decanting, it's red Bordeaux. The classic image of a sommelier pouring a bottle over a candle flame comes straight out of the Bordeaux tradition, and for good reason. Mature claret is one of the most reliable sediment-throwers in the cellar. Give a well-made Bordeaux a decade or two in bottle and you'll almost always find a deposit waiting at the bottom, or a dark crust clinging to one side.

Here's how to get an aged Bordeaux into the glass clear, and how long to give it once it's there.

Why Bordeaux throws so much sediment

Red Bordeaux is a blend, built mainly on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and sometimes Malbec playing supporting roles. On the Left Bank, in the Médoc and Graves, Cabernet Sauvignon usually leads. On the Right Bank, in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, Merlot and Cabernet Franc dominate.

Either way, the wines are deeply colored and tannic in youth, especially from the Left Bank. Over years in bottle, tannins and color pigments bind together and fall out of solution as sediment, which is one reason the wines soften and lighten as they age. More tannin and pigment to start with generally means more deposit later. Our explainer on what wine sediment is covers the process, and our region-by-region guide shows where Bordeaux sits among other ageworthy wines.

Bordeaux sediment comes in two forms. Some settles as a loose, dark powder in the base of a bottle that has stood upright. Some forms a "crust" along the side of a bottle that has lain on its side for years. A crust tends to stay put when the bottle is moved, while loose sediment clouds the wine easily.

Why decant, and why the timing matters

The late Émile Peynaud, the enologist who shaped modern Bordeaux winemaking, believed that separating wine from its sediment was the only real reason to decant. Many drinkers also decant Bordeaux to give a tight wine some air, and with younger bottles that can help.

The older the wine, the more the balance shifts toward protecting what's there rather than opening it up. A Decanter taste test on decanting concluded that decanting too early is worse than too late, and that longer decanting carries more risk of oxidation the more evolved a wine is.

As rough guidance:

• Jancis Robinson suggests decanting red Bordeaux more than 20 years old immediately before serving, wines between five and 20 years old one to two hours before serving, and wines under five years old splashily, up to four hours ahead.
• Chambers Street Wines in New York suggests one to two hours for Bordeaux up to 20 years old, and shortly before serving for older wines.

Decanter also notes that in Bordeaux itself, a common approach is to double decant, pouring the wine back into its original bottle and restoppering it, or to decant and stopper the decanter an hour or two before serving. Stoppering slows further contact with air while the wine waits.

Treat these timings as a starting point. Vintage, producer and storage all matter. A structured Left Bank wine from a powerful vintage may want more time than a softer Right Bank wine of the same age.

Step 1: Stand the bottle upright

A day or two upright before opening is the traditional advice, and it suits Bordeaux well. Loose sediment drifts to the base, where it's easiest to leave behind. If the bottle has a crust along one side, try to keep that side facing the same way when you stand it up, so you don't dislodge it. Our guide to how long wine should stand upright goes into more detail.

Step 2: Open it carefully

Bordeaux corks are typically long, and after a couple of decades they can be soft or crumbly. An ah-so, or a two-part puller that pairs a worm with side blades, is the safest choice for an old cork. Cut the capsule below the lip, wipe the top of the cork, and work slowly. Our guide to opening an old bottle of wine covers the details.

If part of the cork ends up in the wine, it doesn't spoil it. See what to do when the cork crumbles.

Smell the wine as soon as it's open. A slightly dusty or closed first impression often clears after a few minutes. Persistent musty, wet-cardboard aromas suggest cork taint, which decanting can't fix.

Step 3: Separate the wine from the sediment

All of these methods are covered step by step in our guide to decanting wine with sediment.

The candle pour. The classic method. With a candle, flashlight or lamp behind the neck, pour slowly and continuously into a clean decanter. Watch the shoulder of the bottle, and stop when the sediment starts to move toward the neck. With practice, you'll leave behind only a small amount of wine with the deposit.

Double decanting. Pour off the sediment into a decanter, rinse the bottle with a little water or wine, and pour the clear wine back. It lets you serve from the original bottle, so guests see the label, and it's a well-established Bordeaux practice. See what is double decanting.

A siphon. The Jory is a siphon decanter designed in Oregon that draws clear wine off the sediment. The bottle stays upright, so a loose deposit stays in the base and a crust stays on the side where it formed, and the wine runs into your decanter without tipping the bottle. The bottle needs to sit higher than the decanter. If any cork crumbled into the wine, you can use the Jory as normal, and it won't draw up the cork. Because the siphon itself doesn't splash the wine, you stay in control of how much air it gets afterward, whether you want to serve an old wine right away or let a younger one breathe in the decanter.

Step 4: Taste and adjust

Once the wine is clear, taste it. A 30-year-old Bordeaux that's open and fragrant should be served now. A 12-year-old Left Bank wine that still feels tight can sit in the decanter, with a taste every half hour. If you want to slow things down, put a stopper in the decanter.

If you're unsure whether your bottle needs air at all, our post on decanting vs. aerating explains why separating sediment and adding air are two different jobs.

Serving tips

Serve mature Bordeaux slightly below room temperature, in a large glass. Pour moderate amounts so the wine has room to open and doesn't warm too quickly. And keep a little back: many old clarets show differently in the last glass than the first, and comparing the two is half the fun.

The short version

Stand the bottle upright for a day or two, open it with a tool made for old corks, and separate the wine from its sediment without stirring up the deposit. Decant older bottles immediately before serving and younger ones an hour or two ahead, then taste and adjust. Bordeaux has been decanted this way for generations because it works.