Which statement about decanting is most accurate?

• A. Decanting warms wine quickly to maintain temperature.
• B. Decanting is primarily for filtering wine through a cloth.
• C. Decanting cools wine rapidly to preserve color.
• D. Decanting exposes wine to air to aerate aromas and help remove sediment; used for older red wines or highly extracted young wines.

Answer: (D)

Decanting is about exposing wine to air to open up aromas and flavors and to separate any sediment from the wine. This breathing effect helps older red wines, which can have sediment from aging, to become clearer and more expressive, and it can also help highly extracted young wines soften and release their aromas when given oxygen contact. The idea isn't to warm the wine or cool it or to filter through a cloth; those aren’t the primary purposes of decanting. In practice, pour slowly into a clean decanter and leave any sediment behind in the bottle, then let the wine breathe for a short time before tasting.