One of the best dining experiences I ever had was at a three-star restaurant in Paris (no surprise there), and among the visual treats was the way the sommelier handled the wine we had ordered.

It was a decent-vintage Bordeaux from a reputable property, about 12 years old. The wine steward came out with the bottle and displayed the label to make sure it was what we had ordered. Then he took it to a table in the middle of the room where he pulled the cork, decanted the wine and then took a tiny sip to make sure the wine wasn't corked.

It was the act of decanting that was so impressive: a steady hand, against a white marble backdrop into an elegant crystal decanter. This, I thought, ought to be a standard policy for nearly all wine, and especially now when we are seeing so many bottles with screwcaps.

Decanting most wines is a good idea. Start with the fact that wine, after fermentation, needs time to recover from that roiling experience. Also, it undergoes some additional procedures to make sure it's stable when it gets to you, and it has to recover from that as well.

A lot of wine is sent to market without much time to rest, and certainly without time to gain any sort of bouquet. Even inexpensive wines can need some time to "come together," as wine makers say.