It’s a typical weekday night, but you decide to pull out that bottle you’ve been saving for a special occasion. Yes, today is as good as any. You lift the handle of the corkscrew and hear the resounding pop of the cork. Then you slowly pour your wine into a long-necked decanter, watching it swirl down the sides while listening to the gentle “glug, glug,” as the bottle empties. Once all the contents have been poured, you take a breath and wait for your wine to settle. It’s a moment of zen, which is what wine is all about. Not only is decanting wine meditative in our opinion, it serves a practical purpose, too. Decanters “separate clarified wine from solids that have formed during aging,” wrote Tammie Teclemariam for Wine Enthusiast. They also expose wine to oxygen, “which releases certain compounds bound within the bottle. Both have an effect on our perception of flavor, texture and aroma.” Don’t have a decanter yet? Ensure that the special bottle you’ve had tucked away is as enjoyable as possible with some of Wine Enthusiast’s best decanters. Best for Small Spaces Best for Big Bottles Best for Dramatic Display Best for Entertaining Best for Sparkling Wine Best for Outdoor Decanting The Flashiest How We Picked These Decanters We wanted to ensure that there was a decanter on this list for every kind of drinker. We scanned our best-selling models and narrowed the options down further by looking at customer reviews and expert recommendations. FAQs Should You Decant Wine? It depends. If you have wine with a lot of sediment, it’s worth decanting to remove it. (To avoid the problem in the first place, be sure to check out these storage tips to help mitigate sediment.) Otherwise, the best way to determine whether a wine might benefit from decanting is to taste it. If you’re the first sip tastes fine, you're probably good to forgo decanting. However, if there any odd aromas or the wine seems "tight," it would likely benefit from some time in the decanter. How Long Should You Decant Wine? “In order to enjoy the peak of the wine after you have opened a bottle, you have to [taste] its evolution from the moment you open it,” says Marc Hochar, whose family founded MusarYou need “to understand where it started and where it finished," says Marc Hochar, whose family founded Lebanon’s Chateau Musar in 1930, told Wine Enthusiast. Once it's in the decanter take a taste every so often to see how it is coming along.