On Saturday I’m catching up with some mates for a truffle lunch. We’re also putting together a pretty solid lineup of wines for the day. One of the bottles being served is the 2001 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste. I was wondering if anyone has any advice with regards to when to open the bottle with a mind to help this wine open up. My thoughts are that we should open the bottle the night before, or even 48 hours before service. On the other hand this strategy assumes the wine won’t shut down with air and to completely eliminate that possibility the option of pop and pour is also being considered. Furthermore I’m curious if a double decant is preferable to slow oxing if we give the bottle extended air before pouring.
My gut tells me that in 24-48 hours this wine won’t fall apart with a slow ox by a long shot. But I’ve never had the 2001 and I’m concerned about the possibility of it shutting down after opening. I was curious if anyone has any advice or recommendations. Comments?
Andrew, I’m afraid I don’t have a direct answer for you. However, at a Rinaldi dinner last year (see Ken Vastola’s notes at http://finewinegeek.com/tn/2015-08-11_AG_RinaldiG_I-Trulli/ and Eric Guido’s notes at Wine Store in New York, NY 10020 - Morrell & Company) I brought a bottle of 2001 Brunate-Le Coste that I had decanted at around 8am, let sit for a couple of hours, then returned to bottle. Twelve hours later, it showed great potential – there is plenty of fruit there – but still very tight. I don’t imagine opening 24 hours in advance will harm the wine.
So I would consider opening it the night before, tasting it in the morning to decide whether to put it back in the bottle, but 24 hours probably won’t kill it. I recall having the 1990 Ch. Margaux and Ch. Latour in 2004 with 24 hours of air and they were brilliant. This is not that dissimilar imo.