Decanting wine, yay or nay?

[Ahleckz]

Is it worth decanting (aerating) wine or is it a bit of a myth?

I'm of the view that it's a worthwhile thing to do but I was recently speaking to someone quite knowledgeable about wine and they said it makes no difference.

Your thoughts?

 

[Ahleckz]

Letting it breathe definitely makes a difference (for red at least, not sure about white), but it's not worth the hassle of decanting into a different container for me. Just open the bottle 20-60' before you'll drink it.

Now that's the bit that I don't actually believe. I can accept that decanting it could improve the flavour (though I'm not 100%) but I can't see there being any noticeable effect from just opening the bottle. The surface area is too small to allow any significant air into the wine. Plus, it's not being irritated and therefore the air isn't mixing with much of the wine at all - only the small amount that is at the top. I'm not sure how osmosis would come into play though...