To start, Olivier Marie lights a candle away from the wine and presents the customer with his or her bottle. The stand keeps sediment at the bottle's base.

He makes a straight incision up the bottle cover to extract the cork.

Next, he checks the cork is not tainted, by giving it a quick and discreet smell. If the wine is oxidised the cork will smell mouldy.

Olivier noses the wine once without swirling to ensure the wine is in good condition. He then swirls the wine to aerate and release the flavours.

He pours a small amount of that wine into the decanter to "season" it. This then returns to the glass.

The seasoned decanter.

Olivier Marie carefully holds the Château Pibran, in its stand, above the lit candle and pours wine into the decanter. The flame illuminates sediment at the bottle's base, so Olivier can ensure none escapes and is decanted.

One centimetre of wine is left in the base of the bottle. This small amount contains sediment and so most people prefer not to drink it, but Olivier explains it’s completely up to the customer.

The decanted wine.