Just like using wine glasses, you don’t have to decant wine unless you want to! However, letting wine breathe (or “aerate”) allows them to open up and taste even better. Generally, red wines are decanted, but white wines are not. People decant wine for two reasons: to help filter sediments that may have formed during aging, and to add oxygen to the wine — both of which affect the wine’s flavor, mouthfeel, and aroma. Typically, red wines are decanted for ~30 minutes minimum, or even up to a day for older, higher-alcohol wines.