Decanting wine, what does it do?

Gary Vaynerchuk over at Wine Library TV did a decanting experiment with the 2004 Amon Ra Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Australia).

In response to one of the comments on this episode of Wine Library TV Vaynerchuk wrote I have decanted over 30 wines under $12 in the last few weeks getting ready for this video and I have to tell you everyone did better after 2 hrs +….EVERYONE. I know it may sound strange and I didn’t think so myself but I disagree I think all wines get value from air!

Seeing as how Gary did his tasting non-blinded I don't place any great faith in his view, but its presented here for those who do believe in decanting. However it must be noted that Vaynerchuk's statement that decanting "breaks up the tannins" is simply wrong. As I noted in a previous post on decanting an article by Janet Fletcher in the San Francisco Chronicle quotes the following:- According to UC Davis Enology Professor Roger Boulton, there is absolutely no evidence that decanting produces any change in wine tannins, at least over a matter of days. Tasters may perceive that the tannins have softened, but laboratory tests show otherwise.