Decanting is an often overlooked step, but wine isn’t the same without it.

You’ve just pulled the cork on a long anticipated vintage. Now all that’s left is to pour for your eager guests and… Hold up, there. No need to be so impatient. There’s another step necessary if you wish to properly showcase a wine.

“I’m a firm believer in decanting anything and everything,” says Kerry Winslow, a wine educator with Windy Oaks Estate. Decanting is the process of aerating, or allowing a wine to breathe before serving. And it may seem like an unnecessary bit of pomp, as well as a test of patience – depending upon the varietal, proper decanting can take an hour or more. But, Winslow points out, “you will notice a huge difference.”

He once held a tasting of vintage Champagne. Most experts consider it a no-no to decant sparklers, but he conducted a side-by-side comparison between freshly poured glasses and those left to rest. While some of the effervescent spirit was lost to decanting, participants realized that “those wines are far more complex than imagined.” Once bottled, wine is in a confined environment. Swirling the glass before sampling a wine releases some of the pent-up aromas. Decanting in a vessel with a broad base and plenty of room for air (there’s a good selection at Prim’s Carmel General Store) extends this service dramatically. But it requires commitment. Uncorking a bottle and letting it sit has little effect.

Now, “anything and everything” does come with caveats. Winslow says decanting a cheap wine to improve its qualities is a myth. “It doesn’t make mediocre or bad wine better,” he explains. For a good vintage, however, “you get to taste the wine in its full glory.”