I am looking for some decanting advice for a mix of 2000 Bordeaux, my oldest daughter’s birth year, that I plan to open at her wedding reception this coming Saturday night. I have had the bottles standing for about a month, and I am unsure how many I will open or how many of each. The wines are:
Leoville Barton
Leoville Poyferre
Montrose
Calon-Segur
Rauzan-Segla
Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Any recommendations, suggestions, etc., would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Open them all, open them early. 2000s are monsters and need a ton of air. If it were me, I’d probably open the Montrose before noon and the others 6 hours before dinner–make sure to keep them at the correct cellar temp.
If you want to be super scientific, get your Coravin and tomorrow morning Coravin 1/2 glass of each of them and monitor them every 30-60 minutes and record your tasting notes each time… you will find the best time for each of them this way. That’s how I do it when I want to leave zero room for error.
Your first answer was spot on, IMO. Your second one has me ROTFL.
Agree with this. With wines from 2000 don’t be afraid to hurt them.
Most will need decanting for sediment but beyond that, don’t sweat it. They’ll be good no matter how much air they get. Congrats to your fam.
Agree here with Keith. I’m no 2000 Bordeaux expert, but I did just plan my own wedding in which I was responsible for the wine. Initially, I was excited to get all sorts of exciting stuff, but the more elaborate my plans got, the more I realized it was unnecessary. I eventually settled on four delicious but rather humble selections around $20/btl (a white, a rose, and two reds), and they were perfect for the occasion. I made a nice sign for the bar and left it at that. It’s a wedding after all, not a wine tasting. The fact that you got all these wines from her birth year is a wonderful and thoughtful gesture. They will be enjoyed regardless.
Fortunately for you, 2000 Bordeaux are sturdy wines, so you really don’t have to stress about it. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of other things going on! Unless you’ve got a reception full of somms, no one is going to notice a difference between 2 vs 4 vs 6 hours of decant time. So, open them whenever it’s most convenient and enjoy the day. For me, in the end, I was glad that I had simplified the wine issue and didn’t really have to worry about it at all day of.
That being said, let us all know how the wines turn out and what you end up doing. Unlike your reception, we all want to know the nitty gritty wine details! Hope you enjoy the day and congrats to you and your family.
I did a 8hr double decant for a '00 GPL this weekend which seemed appropriate and was drinking very nicely. Congrats!