Policy change in decanting wines
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:31 am
In the past I have decanted wines with lots of known sediment and splash decanted young wines in an attempt to coax complexity over youth, leaving most wines to be drank directly from the bottle. Recently I have had several wines that have taken up to 45 minutes to open up and reveal their real nature. On Monday night I opened an '82 La Tour Haut Brion because I thought it may be in danger decline. The first sip was drinkable but had stale oxidized notes, something you drink but not worth mentioning. I grilled dinner and poured the wine into some large glasses and things seemed to improve. After 1 hour and on the second half of the bottle the wine really began to sing, no oxidized notes and great old Bordeaux fruit, a quite memorable wine. Have had this same experience with some recent '75's and '78's. I have now developed a decanting formula and divide the wines into three groups by age, 2-10years, 10-30 years and 30+ years.
2-10 years: I splash decant big wines that should probably not be drank as early as I serving and will improve with age, the remaining is served right out of the bottle. As an example I do not decant most CC or PN but will decant '01 Rhones and Cabs.
10-30 years: The older of this group I will decant because they need time in air to open and develop. I will also decant any with visible sediment. Will still tend to drink the non cab based wines direct from the bottle.
30+ years: This is the tough one. The problem is that really old wines can fall apart quickly but many throw off lots of sediment. I tend to not decant, pour carefully and let any development happen in the glass. If I decant the wine it is just before pouring in the glasses.
I am thowing this out for comment as it is a work in process. I also admit most of my experience with wines over 15 years of age is with Bordeaux. Any comments? Maybe we can develop a WLDG decanting policy!
Walt
2-10 years: I splash decant big wines that should probably not be drank as early as I serving and will improve with age, the remaining is served right out of the bottle. As an example I do not decant most CC or PN but will decant '01 Rhones and Cabs.
10-30 years: The older of this group I will decant because they need time in air to open and develop. I will also decant any with visible sediment. Will still tend to drink the non cab based wines direct from the bottle.
30+ years: This is the tough one. The problem is that really old wines can fall apart quickly but many throw off lots of sediment. I tend to not decant, pour carefully and let any development happen in the glass. If I decant the wine it is just before pouring in the glasses.
I am thowing this out for comment as it is a work in process. I also admit most of my experience with wines over 15 years of age is with Bordeaux. Any comments? Maybe we can develop a WLDG decanting policy!
Walt