I’m relatively new to wine, having only begun partaking and seeking a deeper understanding a couple of years ago. I don’t have a great deal of experience with older wines - old for me is anything around ten years old, and I’m looking for feedback on the best method for opening some bottles that are frankly quite older than anything I’ve previously experienced.
My partner and I are having a special wine dinner for her parent’s 40th anniversary, and as part of that we’re opening some older bottles on Dec 23rd to serve with them, the two oldest being a '77 Mayacamas Cab, and an '89 Pichon Baron Bordeaux. They’ll be served side by side as part of the steak course we’re serving that night. It’s my first experience both with wines this old, as well as wines of this caliber (usually “fancy” for me is New World Pinot or Cab for $50-$100).
I’ve actively lurked on this board for about six months now, and so am familiar with some of the possible techniques for opening - slow-O, decant, double decant, pop and pour, etc. But I’m unsure of which technique is most appropriate for these two bottles in particular. They’ve been standing for a week (and will continue to stand) until the 23rd to allow any sediment to settle.
Welcome to the best wine forum in the world.
Stand up the Mayacamas a few nights early. Open easily and pour. No need to slow-ox or decant, other than for too much sediment.
Enjoy!
I would decant both wines for sediment. I would also set both of them at a 45 degreee angle for as long as possible to get the sediment in one section of the bottom of the bottle to allow for as much of the wine as possible to be sediment free. I would decant the 89 Pichon for about an hour before the dinner and decant the Mayacamas and serve that immediately. Enjoy the night!!
The Pichon definitely needs time decanting in order to unwind. It’s still quite youthful. An hour sounds decent but consider drinking it over the entire evening to watch it evolve, rather than just serving it all at once.
Read the Cellar Tracker notes on the wines you are going to open. Often reviewers will make statements like “I decanted for an hour should have been two hours” or P&P worked perfect for the wine.
Hi Jason
Others will come in with advice on decant etc. which is an area I still feel I don’t have much of a feel for.
For the cork extraction, there is a risk of the cork crumbling on extraction, so either:
accept this and have a filter set up to catch the cork bits, unbleached coffee filter paper works, but muslin is possibly a better alternative OR
buy a butlers thief / ah-so cork remover, those two pronged metal jobs. They are very cheap and are perfect for tired old corks where the elasticity is going, though pretty useless on a new springy cork. For a failsafe method, using an old corkscew spiral (without the rest of the corkscrew) to secure the cork, then using the ah-so to prise the cork out, should be successful with all but the most decrepid corks.
FWIW Option 1 is the least stress if you have never used an ah-so before.
If doing this, convention has it that the wine is ‘wine label facing up’. There is no other reason than this is the easiest way to remember and thus avoid disturbing the sediment. FWIW I just stand the bottle upright, but Kirk’s method is a little better if you are disciplined about it.
The '89 PB really isn’t an “old wine” in the sense of its evolution, as it’s still not reached full maturity. So I would go with the advice to decant it an hour or two ahead of time and not slow-ox. I reserve slow-ox for wines in the 40+ year category.
That leads me to the Mayacamas. I don’t have experience with that particular wine. However, wines of that age I would slow-ox and not decant. Just pour easy after it’s been open for about 4 hours.
I opened four bottles of '89 Margaux for a tasting several weeks ago, and the procedure they (Margaux) asked for was simply to double decant the '89 an hour before the wine would be served. Having tasted it, I can confirm that it felt open after that exercise, though it certainly evolved in the glass. That’s also my experience recently with an '86 Clerc Milon and a '90 Talbot. I wouldn’t worry too much about the cork. In my experience, if the bottle has been well-stored the cork will be in good shape if it’s from a top Bordeaux producer.
Just had the 89 Baron over a 3 hour lunch like 2M ago. It was terrific and evolved the whole time it was open. I uncorked the bottle an hour before lunch but did not decant, that certainly would have been one way to go.
Jason - you can approach it several ways. Either decant as others have recommended, or don’t decant and drink slowly. The wine will open and you yourself will learn whether or not you prefer decanting or not and whether or not you think it’s important. Why not use the opportunity as a learning experience? The wine will be good either way.
The main piece of advice you’ve been given, which is truly important, is to be careful with the cork. You can get one of those ah-so devices for a buck and a half. There’s a store near me that has them for $1.20, so they’re by far the cheapest useful item you’ll ever find for wine, other than a drop-stop, which you can usually get for free. If the cork does in fact crumble, make sure you have a really fine mesh strainer. You can pick one of those up for a buck or two as well at most kitchen sections in most department stores or even Walmart or Target. Just get a little tea strainer but the finer the better.
Those wines aren’t ancient but they’re a good age to be picking up what mature wine is about. You might eventually decide that where they are is exactly where you like them. Some people prefer younger, some older, and some right where they are now. There’s no right or wrong or optimum drinking window - it’s whatever you happen to like. Unfortunately, they’re also at the age when the corks start crapping out as often as not, so be careful. Maybe there’s no problem, but maybe there is. Eventually the world will move away from cork and we won’t have to worry about that stuff any more.
Jason, love the avatar! My favorite Michigan winery.
I generally decant a wine that has lots of sediment, but I’ve seen it done to pour cleanly directly from the bottle. I’ve also seen wine that didn’t show well due to floating sediment, so stand those bottles up! I’ll defer to others on aeration advice for these particular bottles.
Absolutely have an ah-so handy. When you buy one, even a cheap one will do but make sure it has a rivet in the handle to hold everything together. Some are press-fit and will fall apart. I always have an ah-so handy at wine parties, and it’s saved the day a couple times. I also keep one in my car for emergencies.
Seriously though, they kick ass and I’d want to have one for opening those bottles (especially the Mayacamas).
Also, if they’re at 55 degrees or cooler make sure to bring them into room temp for 20 minutes or so before serving so they can warm up a few degrees…they’ll show better, imho.
Seriously - and as it is only the 20th Dec. -
I would do it like this:
open both bottles 5-6 hours in advance before serving (slow-ox), but cover the opening with a tissue against dust, flies etc.
(you can also carefully taste a tiny glass to check for TCA, and fill back the rest)
Decant the ´89 PB 45 to 60 min. before serving, and the ´77 Mayacamas 10 to 15 min. before …
Do not splash-decant but pour the wine very softly into the decanter.
Then enjoy !
The reason: without slow-oxing but decanting the wines can get a slightly sharp taste, with pronounced tannins and acidity which will NOT disapear thru the decant or by watching in the glass later.
Disagree on “slow ox”, as I think it is “no ox”, ie, pop and pour with some theatrics. I think it does nothing pop and pour doesn’t. (I do it, as it does no harm, but…only as a version of pop and pour that says " why not"…).
I can’t argue with using the method vs. aeration/decanting on ancient wines…though using it on an '83 Ampeau Volnay-Santenonts for 6 hours resulted in a much much better wine the next day when the wine was left in decanter to open up/aerate.
I don’t advocate open aeration in every case; just think “slow ox” adds nothing meaningful to the mix exepct pyschological…for those who don’t want to think they are popping and pouring, ie, need to do “something.”
I don’t really like decanting too far in advance. You can always give a wine more air by pouring it in a glass and swirling it, but can’t get the genie back in the bottle if you have given the wine too much air. I would not open the Mayacamas much before you are ready to drink it. The Pichon Baron can probably handle a bit more air, but I would air on the side of caution. You can always swirl it.
Besides, I love watching a wine open up over time and see it at different stages.
You certainly need to decant both wines for sediment.
Give everyone two glasses. Pour both wines. Watch each change over time.
