Why Restaurants Need to Rethink Decanting for Today’s Guests

In a packed dining room, the classic ritual of decanting often clashes with reality-servers juggle tight tables, guests don’t want to wait, and sommeliers are left choosing between speed and ceremony. Michael has spent years talking with sommeliers about this tension and designing ways to resolve it. He shows how reimagining the decanting process can make service smoother while keeping the sense of theatre that guests remember. By making overlooked bottles shine and creating moments of connection at the table, he reframes decanting not as a tradition to be abandoned but as an experience that can evolve with modern hospitality.

About Michael Fors

Michael Fors, podcast guest

Winemaker, Inventor and Creator of Liquid Jazz®

26 years Weekly wine-night tradition4 minutes To bring wine to life1 U.S. patent Rocking Wave decanter systemProduct creator Liquid Jazz

Michael A. Fors didn’t set out to build a business, he set out to solve a problem at his own table. For more than two decades, he’s gathered friends for “wine night,” a Thursday ritual that has seen everything from two people sharing a bottle by the fire to fifty guests filling his yard with music, food, and conversation. Those nights brought joy, but also had a sticking point: red wines often tasted harsh when first opened, and waiting hours for a decanter was impractical when cars kept pulling into the driveway.

The turning point came by the Gloucester shoreline, where Michael watched waves roll over rocks, breaking open the air with sea salt and seaweed aromas. He imagined wine flowing the same way, over contours that would open it naturally. A prototype made with a local metalworker proved the idea right: wine softened in minutes. That sketch of an idea became Liquid Jazz, the first patented decanter designed to bring out a bottle’s best character in four minutes.

Today, Michael speaks less as an inventor and more as a host.

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