Decanting likely started in the 1800s, when sediment was a common feature of most wines. Modern stabilization and clarification techniques have eliminated most sediment problems. Unfiltered wines or wines aged for a prolonged time are most likely to have sediment among contemporary wines. Herein lies one reason for decanting: to separate the wine from the sediment.

Promoting aeration of the wine is another reason to decant wine, although this is widely debated in wine tasting circles. Exposing the wine to its most chemically active component, oxygen, is believed to promote a wine’s bouquet. Oxidation is a slow process in a sealed bottle, but is one of the reasons wine ages. Introducing a large amount of oxygen, as in decanting, speeds up this process. In a sense, decanting may be seen as a way of artificially aging a wine.