Margaret River's premium wines brim with rare and wonderful characters just waiting to be released in the glass.

However we can sometimes miss out on these delicate nuances through not giving the wine a chance to achieve its full potential.

Decanting will help you get the most from any wine. There are two reasons to decant wine. One is to stimulate and enliven the wine by exposing it to air, and the other is to remove any sediment or crust that may have settled in the bottle.

Decanting is not just for old wines. In fact, it opens up young wines even more than aged ones, since youthful wines are usually more tightly structured and require a prod along.

One of the best ways to decant is through a procedure called double decanting. This gives the wine an extra dose of aeration.

Firstly stand the bottle up for a couple of hours, or bring it carefully from the cellar so the sediment is not jostled free. Open the bottle and slowly pour the wine into a clean jug in a single, continuous stream. Avoid glugging as this will also tend to disturb the sediment.

It is worth having a light or candle behind the bottle to see when any sediment reaches the shoulder. Discard the last 30ml in the bottle (which contains any sediment) and rinse out the bottle with warm water.

Pour the decanted wine back into the bottle or a clean crystal decanter, if you have one. This may require a funnel if your jug doesn't have a suitable spout.

The wine will now have had a good chance to start releasing its hidden characters. If you are not going to serve the wine immediately then it may be loosely recorked.

Temporary re-corking is advisable for older wines which may start to deteriorate rapidly with exposure to the atmosphere.