Have this lined up for Christmas Eve. Several of the notes on CellarTracker are conflicting (what else is new), so wanted to ask if anyone has recent experience/advice on how to help it show its best.
FWIT, I had a '94 last month and it certainly benefited from a 2h decant, but as always, it comes down to one’s personal preferences.
My recommendation for decanting is always the same. Pop the cork a few hours in advance, taste a bit to analise where the wine is at. If you feel it’s ready to go, just pop the cork back on and maybe do a double decant closer to when you’ll drink, the wine won’t move much, if at all, since with the bottle full there’s little surface area between the wine and oxygen. If you feel like the wine will benefit from some decanting, then you have time to do that that as well.
Sounds like a fun Christmas wine. Enjoy!
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It’s a powerful and tannic wine though I’ve always found it to drink well, even when it was relatively young. I don’t expect you can hurt it with a long decant but I like the suggestion of opening early and tasting to decide on decanting early or later.
Two hours works well, but as others have observed, correctly stored examples are still youthful and robust and it can take a lot of punishment.
I’ve had this many times over the last few years and found it really needs a long decant of four plus hours to really show its best. When its on, its an incredible wine and will live beyond my lifetime
This.
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Please share your results. Opening the same bottle for my anniversary on NYE.
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Had a bottle some time ago. As it is still so youthful and powerful it needed a lot of decanting. It improved a lot of air. We followed it over 8 hours, it was decanted for 7 of them and got better by the minute. The first 4-5 hours it remained muted. Well stored bottles like this really need a lot lot lot of decanting. I would hence open it at noon and decant it and then come back and taste it every hour or 90 minutes (my guess is, it will need all the time but if not, just put it back in the bottle).
Any updates on how it went?
Update:
Opened around noon, poured a small glass to follow, recorked and returned to the cellar. Initially it was tight and the tanins were noticeable, but it opened up after about two hours and was really singing.
Based on the above, decanted for two hours prior to dinner, but it was still improving slightly when we finished the last glass around the three hour mark (though it was so good it’s hard to imagine it getting much better!).
This was rich and deep and perfectly balanced. My WOTY. Matt, you’re in for a real treat.
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Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it. I was really in the same boat with CT confusing me on decanting times. Looking forward to Thursday now!
About to open an 89 Lynch Bages for a birthday celebration. It has been standing for four days. One more day.
Birthday - You only turn this years old once.
Might as well open something that you have been saving.
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One of my epiphany wines was a Haut Bages-Averous (2nd Wines) sometime in the 1980s. Found it in a closeout bin at Zachys. Loved it. Next time visiting the store, I asked if they had any more. They said no but showed me bottles of Lynch Bages. Could not afford it that day (student level income) but did buy a bunch when I had finally had some income.
So birthday wine - 1989 Lynch Bages.
This had been standing up for 4 days.
Opened in the cellar and let sit for two hours.
Decanted and then served about 1 hour later. Enjoyed over dinner of grilled lamb chops, crostini with calamares en su tinta, and pasta in a ground beef and tomato sauce.
Dark color. Nose offers graphite notes and dark fruit. Hint of old leather chairs and library books along with black fruit.
Good dark fruit on the palate with a little funk/oak coming in on the mid-palate.
This was a delicious wine but there was a slight woodsy funk note that i saw as a detraction. While this was a delicious and enjoyable bottle of wine, I was expecting more.
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Had this a few months ago and agree. Was quite good, but fell short of expectations.
I’m sure eventually it will come around, as there is quite a lot of stuffing there, but at this juncture, I found the wood sticking out a bit more than I would ultimately like.
Usually, when famous wines do not show well, or live up to expectations, it’s due to poor storage. It’s a fact that after 15-20 years of age, there are no great wines, just great bottles.
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or they were over rated.
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I will be drinking one next Sunday night along with a bunch of first growths from 70s. A dear friend is opening them all for his final birthday in his 60s. I know he bought this wine on release, and I know he stores his wine perfectly. Will be interesting to see how it shows among the others.
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It’s getting close to 35 years old, it’s either in full flight or it never happening. At this point, it will come down to personal taste and/or bottle variation
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