From our wine experts at Christie's: ‘Decanting wine adds drama to even the simplest of dinners,' says Christie's wine specialist Charles Foley. The large silver pheasant with which he is pictured below illustrates this perfectly — a closer look reveals it to be a Fabergé wine decanter, modeled in around 1890 by Julius Rappoport, the creator of many exquisite animal figures for the Russian jeweler. ‘An entire culture of equipment, techniques, and tricks has grown up around the spectacle of decanting,' Foley elaborates. Why you should decant wine: The purpose of decanting is threefold: to aerate a wine, to remove sediment, and to add a bit showmanship to a dinner party. ‘Aerating the wine is similar to shaking a crumpled blanket or a throw on a bed: the air smooths the creases and crinkles so that the tannin — the fine mesh in a red wine that gives it structure — appears plump and rounded,' explains the specialist.

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