How and why to decant

See the video specially made by Ferran for JancisRobinson.com at the bottom of this article, and the discussion the article engendered on the forum.

Somewhere around 2001, I was visiting a very traditional restaurant with some wine friends. After taking a look at the wine list we decided unanimously to taste San Roman 1999 from Maurodos winery in the Toro region. San Roman is today considered one of the flagship wines in Toro. The waiter brought the bottle standing upright and offered to decant it (see note 1 below). We of course accepted his offer. As you may imagine...