Decant advice needed

WINE TALK
1

Having a belated bday party tomorrow nite. I will be bringing the following and am curious as to some suggested slow ox and potential decant times.

  1. '82 Latour
  2. '89 Haut Brion
  3. '85 Caymus SS
  4. '99 Colgin Herb Lamb
  5. '02 Shafer Hillside Select

Thanks,

Billy

2

you will get twelve answers and twelve different opinions.

3

Just give it some air and double decant the sediment out. Wouldn’t worry about too much else, those wines are going to rock no matter what

4

The Latour and Haut Brion are still on the young side (though not so much so that I wouldn’t open them!) so there is a chance they might shut down if you decant them. Then again they might not; difficult to predict this kind of thing but decanting is certainly not guaranteed to improve them, and it may have the opposite effect.

Basically, I would just open them all around lunchtime and let them slow-ox for 6-8 hours. Won’t oxygenate them much but will help them acclimatise to their new environment!

5

Had an 01 HSS several months back. Pop and pour. While good at the start it was really singing several hours into the meal. My advice, a one to two hour decant should be about right. Very little sediment.