Decanting advice for '78 bordeaux

WINE TALK
1

Hi All,

Have a '78 Montrose in magnum and a '78 de Chevalier in bottle that we are planning on opening for birthday celebrations in the next week. I don’t have much experience with aged bottles so just wondering how best to approach these - pop and pour or decant, and if the latter, for how long?

Any advice much appreciated! Many thanks

2

I’ve always decanted older Bordeaux for sediment. If you’re going to open them together I’d open and decant the Montrose first given that it’s in Magnum I’d expect it to take 30-60 minutes to open in a decanter and last for several hours easily if it’s been stored properly and there’s no damage. I’d decant and serve the de Chevalier immediately. Let it open up in the glass.

It’s fun drinking older wines like these. We had a '66 Bordeaux a few years ago that was so good it was gone in 30-45 minutes. Everyone just keep smelling & drinking it like it had the cure.

3

Prepare in advance- purchase/gather some cheese cloth or unbleached coffee filters, a funnel, few decanters, old style waiters corkscrew (no rabbits, no electric corkscrews, etc)
Stand up both bottles (assuming they have been stored horizontally) a few days before decanting/serving.
Try standing them in the same spot you will be opening and decanting them to reduce movement of bottle.
Place cheese cloth/coffee filter into funnel, funnel into neck of decanter
Open bottle carefully trying not to move,shake,stir bottle to much. Take your time and move methodically trying to extract cork at slow constant pressure to not break it. If it breaks push it in to the bottle.
Slowly pour bottle over cheese cloth in to decanter. It you want to place back in bottle rinse bottle in warm water and let air dry upside down.
Enjoy the wines and post tasting notes!

4

I would modify this as follows:

  • stand up now - a week is better than a few days
  • avoid cheesecloth/filters - not necessary and I’ve tasted a few wines that were ruined by these items (picking up bad flavours) - Ports can overcome this, but table wines can be tainted
  • just pour carefully/steadily and stop when sediment starts to flow
  • for rinsing the bottle, I don’t use tap water - and definitely not warm water - I keep a jug of distilled water on hand - tap water for many people has some sort of chemical taste from treatment

Cheers,
Blair

5

I think these timing estimates are good - an hour should not hurt either one, and will likely help the wines to wake up.

Cheers,
Blair

6

Good point on the water. I’ve forgotten to use filtered water from the fridge.

I use a metal funnel to pour the wine to/from its bottle/decanter, since I’m clumsy.

Besides your birth two other great things happened in 1978: the BeeGees released their #1 hit album Saturday Night Fever and Ricardo Montalban first appeared in Fantasy Island. Perhaps those two would be fine background media for the dinner party

7

Just my 2c:
almost any aged fine wine can stand a decanting much better when it has been slow-oxed (opened in advance) for several hours. The taste will get less sharp and dry, nose more aromatic …
So stand up for days, opend 5 h in advance and decant 1 h in advance …

8

my only addition: get a Durand. You’ll never need another, and it makes the experience of opening an old bottle SO much easier

9

I drink a fair amount of older wine, and I always decant it. My experience is that time in a decanter really does wake up a bottle (as Blair noted) that has been under cork for many years. The corks are usually the nastiest part of the experience. I find a funnel with a screen will clean up after a bad cork quite nicely and if you have let all the sediment settle and are careful pouring you don’t need to filter more for fine sediment.

10

we drank 2- 78’s last night. Ducru and Talbot. They were not my bottles but besides standing them up in the cellar for a while, these both were popped and poured with no ill effect. They are ready to drink.

11

I don’t think either wine will need much air. This is what I would do:

Supplies:

(1) Durand
(2) 2 x Decanter
(3) Candle or flashlight that can stand on end

Instructions:

(1) Open bottles 10-20 minutes prior to service with Durand
(2) Light candle or turn on flashlight
(3) Begin pouring the wine in to the decanter, with the shoulder of the bottle over light source
(4) Pour slowly and watch for sediment (it will be darker)
(5) Stop pouring once any sediment is visible. Typically with an older Bordeaux, this will leave about 1-1.5 inches of wine in the bottle
(6) Enjoy pristine sample
(7) Revisit dregs in bottle after dinner

12

+2Durand

13

I have a 70 Lafon Rochet to open myself. I was going to ask about the decanting of that wine.
I also had a question on the Durand. I recently tried to open some older bottles and the corks disintegrated. I use the Ah So, but it broke the cork apart in the end. Is using the Durand better because the screw helps with the lifting of the cork matter?

14

+3 Durand