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Little tidbits of learning as I go.  Can't guarantee any of this is accurate though, it's just my understanding of my own notes and reminders to myself based on things I've run across.  I frequently come back and edit this as I learn some things are correct and some are not.

Decanting or just opening a bottle several hours before you intend to drink it can open up a tight and closed wine sometimes rather nicely.  Once in a great while, a wine will improve with a full day but after a day I'd send any left over to the kitchen.  An aged wine with no sediment doesn't actually need a decanting as much as just a few minutes to breathe in a glass really.  Young harsh wines or immature beasts can equally benefit from a little detour into your decanter.  Get a nice one, and get some nice quality wine glasses while you're at it too.  If you really want to lay some wine down for a couple of years, but you need to drink it today, maybe you can heartily decant it and let it breathe for an hour or so and it'll come around nicely for you.  But is the theoretical "rule" of 15-20 minutes breathing equals 6 months bottle aging a myth you can depend on?

We've found a strong preference for half a bottle with dinner, and my method of choice is to open the wine and immediately decant half of the bottle into a split or half bottle (325 ml) re-cork it and put it into the fridge over night.  The next day, remove the bottle an hour before dinner and voila - all good.  I do not believe in using an air pump as I believe it sucks the life out of the wine, or what is lively about it can at least be dulled by using such a device.  I'm not crazy about refrigerating wine either... thinking about not bothering just for one night.