I have had generally positive experiences with older La Tour Figeac, so I opened a mag of 1995 two hours before our dinner rsvp. Cork broke even with an ah-so, so I strain it into a decanter, pouring a small amount into a nearby glass. Ugh. A lot of sediment, and generally a tart tannic animal. Not much pleasure at all. Maybe a “no fruit 95”? I thought to myself. I wanted something better for my Mom and Aunt, who would join me for dinner and the symphony, so I grabbed a more accessible Cali cab, which did the trick. Before I left for dinner I returned the LTF to the mag bottle, recorked it and stood it up in the cellar “just in case”.
The next night we got some takeout seared tuna and burgers, reopened the mag and YOWZA it is transformed! Once a feral beast, now a silky sensual savory sex kitten. Just enough tannic backbone to give it life. Color was a deep maroon with a trace of mahogany. Reminded me a great deal of a 1985 Magdelaine mag I had not too long ago. Coffee and old leather, infused with a rasberry perfume. Cab franc (1/3) especially prominent. Soft enough for the seared tuna yet hearty enough for burgers.
I’m sure this subject has been discussed here ad nauseam. My only previous experience of a positive 24 hr transformation of this magnitude was with barolo. Does this experience shed any light on the future of 1995 bdx?
PS: The Cali mag (Staglin 2004) was terrible IMHO – but more importantly the ladies loved it! And my wife loved the SHL.
When there is this dynamic of a transition over a full day after decanting and repouring in bottle, I typically think it is the drinker not the drink. We’ve all had off-palate days, whether from diet, medication, allergies, too hot coffee in the morning, etc. I’ve had days where great wines just don’t taste. Or I can’t get a good handle on the fruit. Or my sense of smell is jacked up and I get nothing on the nose of a wine that should be explosive, and is the next day. The fact that you also thought the Staglin was terrible, though others enjoyed it, might be food for thought.
Then again, there are many pro-decant folks who believe some wines can survive a week open on their counter, improving each day against all odds. Or that the audoze method makes magic happen when our very own Mr. Alan Rath basically debunked the whole thing with a nice science experiment. Who knows.
At the end of the day, I’m glad it turned out lovely for you, as wine is supposed to be about enjoyment and experience.
For me it can many times tell the the story of good wines in general.
Like you mentioned, Nebbiolo wines probably capable of the greatest transformation act from close to dead, and a few hours a day later fresh, young and very much alive with great complexity.
Bordeaux is maybe not my generations go to wine but I started to dip my toes there buying a few cases of 2015/2016s. Nothing fancy (maybe more telling because of that) but what has struck me with the 2-3 bottles I have popped so far is that I didn’t care much for the wines the first two nights (didn’t decant), too much wood influence to be enjoyable. Nothing harsh but tons of vanilla, creamy buttery direction distracting and covering up the fruits profile. Left the bottles upright with the cork plugged in again… 1.5-2 weeks from opening and they moved on to showing the fruit profile and very little of the wood, if any.
Same with many good white wines, usually find them better the second or third day as well, like Riesling for example- can gain a lot of depth and complexity. Polish the edgy acidity of that type of wine.
I should probably decant more frequently but I enjoy seeing how the wines transform at its own pace and I don’t mind have a few bottles open at the same time. One of the better ways assessing quality as well.
I very much take your point, John. Honestly I was in a hurry on Night One and possibly didn’t give it a sufficiently full hearing (or tasting). We all like to think we are completely objective regarding this thing of ours, but of course it is not so.
That said, the somm (rather undiplomatically) agreed with me on the Staglin after I offered him a glass. There was a definite roasted/burnt quality that spoke more to me of 2003 in parts of Europe and or storage issues.
Another consideration might be that I recorked that mag quite tightly, and there was still quite a high fill. Maybe this allowed for optimal aeration over a 24 hr period?
To be clear, Alan Rath did pretty much disprove M. Audouze’s claim that he had shown that exposure to oxygen was the cause of the transformation he claims to see happen consistently from his method. He did not disprove that the method did not produce the transformation M. Audouze says it does. Since Emmanuel Reynaud consistently recommends a small glass of any of his wines be poured out and the bottle left standing for twenty-four hours (and this regardless of age), I have tried the method with his Vacqueyras and both his white and red Cotes de Rhone and found that while I prefer the airing to be more like six hours in a decanter than twenty four in a bottle, there is no question, for me, that extending exposure to air, including by merely leaving the stuff in the bottle, does affect the taste of the wine. Since I am a mere retired professor of literature, I have no clue as to what cause or combination of causes or different causes or combination of causes for different methods and times of exposure are at work.
I opened a 1996 d’Angerville Volnay Cailleret in 2005, and it was shut down to the point of me suspecting that it was corked - a totally muted nose. I recorked it and put it in the fridge. When I tried it again two nights later, it was fantastic.
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