Decanting Young Cabs?

[Otto_Forsberg]

Only old Madeira. A day in the decanter for every decade in the bottle.

Basically yes. Older ones can be quite closed and even rather stinky before some proper aeration.

[John_Morris]

What’s the protocol for airing young cali cabs? Next week I have on tap, 2015 Robert Mondavi To Kalon, 2016 William & Mary Cabernet, and 2016 William & Mary Proprietary Red. I have a window to double decant them 14 hours before dinner, a window to possibly double decant an hour before, and can pop’n’pour as well (at a steakhouse).

By my tally, your question has elicited the following recommendations:

• Pull the cork some hours ahead, then decant immediately before pouring.
• Decant
• Decant 4 hours ahead
• Decant 6 hours ahead
• Decant 4-12 hours ahead
• Double decant 24 hours ahead
• Open five days ahead

Aren’t you glad you asked?

[Brandon_R]

Haha…that’s funny, John. I now realize that I actually forgot the original question!

[Shan_A]

Aren’t you glad you asked?

I’ve enjoyed and appreciated the answers. But the windows I gave don’t work for the most popular answer (decant 4-6 hours ahead) as I will on a flight 14 hours prior till 30 minutes prior to dinner. I will most likely pull the corks ahead of my flight on all 3 (i.e. pull the corks and pour out a little 14 hours prior to dinner) and then simultaneously decant all 3 at dinner (if they have the decanters). Based on some commentary that the W&M will show better young, I was considering double-decanting the Mondavi in the AM (and only the Mondavi), but will pass doing that. It also sounds like a frantic double decant 30 minutes prior to dinner is workable. All-in-all… I will be looking forward to the three wines, the good friends, and food - and knowing that I can’t possibly screw up the wine given the range of answers!

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

For what it’s worth, my two cents is that the only reason to open a very young, but age worthy, wine, unless you know that’s the way you like it, is to see where it is RIGHT NOW and get a reference point. Pour it, swirl it, give it time, tasting along the way…if, after an hour or more, it still isn’t even pleasant, I may cork it and put it in the fridge overnight. Tasting a young wine after extended decanting teaches you less about the wine, and you won’t ever know if you chose the best point, for all your agonizing, because you didn’t experience it before or after. Nor will it show you where the wine will be in 10+ years. If that’s what you want to know, leave it in the cellar. I get it that many people feel like opening something and want to try for the best experience they can have, according to their palates. That is totally legitimate, I can’t say it’s wrong. For me, though, I would much rather watch the wine develop in the glass over a few hours and be with it every step of the way. Then when I drink another bottle in a year or two or ten, I have a detailed back story.

[Blair_Ridley]

Right on Sarah. Very thoughtful post!

(PS - So nice to see you on here as a regular contributor!)

[Sc0tt_F_tzgerald]

1-3 hours, vigorous decant and at cellar temp. That’s all I’ve ever needed for a young cab.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

Right on Sarah. Very thoughtful post!

(PS - So nice to see you on here as a regular contributor!)

Thanks Blair. It’s been a while, no? Hope all is well.

[Nathan_Smyth]

I will on a flight 14 hours prior till 30 minutes prior to dinner.

Your wines are gonna be suffering from so much travel shock that when you get to the restaurant, you might as well give them The Sparky* Shuffle - pop the corks, pour out a little wine to draw the fill level back down from the neck, stick your thumb in the opening of the bottle, and shake the wine as hard as you can, until you feel like you’re gonna pass out.

Then take your thumb out of the bottle, leave the [open] bottle on the countertop, wait for all the bubbles to rise to the top, and serve.

Instead of doing it by hand, you can also simply pour the wine into a blender, turn the blender on high for 10 or 15 seconds, and add a nice frothy bead to the wine.

*That’s how Sparky Marquis used to prep his big young Shirazes when he was on the road doing commercial tastings.

pull the corks and pour out a little 14 hours prior to dinner

Trying to board [or deboard] a plane with opened containers of alcohol sounds like something which could get you in all sorts of trouble with the authorities - both the security officers & the customs officers.

I can easily imagine someone in an official capacity grabbing those opened bottles and pouring them right down an airport sink [although, if they’re devious, then they’ll simply seize the bottles & take them home to drink for themselves].

And if you irritate them, or if they’re already in a bad mood, then they might try to charge you with some sort of a crime.

[Shan_A]

Your wines are gonna be suffering from so much travel shock

No travel shock. Day trip out and back.

[GregT]

Nathan Myrvold popularized the blender aeration. He is a smart guy so I imagine there’s something to it but I haven’t had the guts to do it myself. OTOH, he has the billions to do whatever he wants to do to his first growths!

Here’s the Mollydooker Shake, although if you’re just getting off a flight, it doesn’t seem like it would really be necessary:

- YouTube

[Nathan_Smyth]

No travel shock. Day trip out and back.

You’re taking a 14-hour day trip, you’re gonna get back home 30 minutes before the tasting, you’ll grab the wines, and then turn right around and head for the restaurant?

Can you sleep-in the next morning? Or for the next two days?

Cause you’re gonna be one tired camper if you try to swallow Big Young Cal Cabs on a schedule like that.

And after the tasting, be sure not to fall asleep at the wheel.

[Nathan_Smyth]

You know, you could Audouze these wines for fourteen or fifteen hours: Open all three of them before you leave, keep the corks out, and let them sit there opened, on the countertop, breathing your house air until you get back home.

You’d only be exposing about a square centimeter of surface area to oxidation, and that might get them in a really nice place [for guys who like Big Young Cal Cabs] and ready to be poured immediately upon arriving at the restaurant.

Plus you wouldn’t have to worry about a decanter or a blender or funnels or refrigeration or any of that nonsense.

[Alan_Rath]

I will on a flight 14 hours prior till 30 minutes prior to dinner.

Your wines are gonna be suffering from so much travel shock that when you get to the restaurant, you might as well give them The Sparky* Shuffle - pop the corks, pour out a little wine to draw the fill level back down from the neck, stick your thumb in the opening of the bottle, and shake the wine as hard as you can, until you feel like you’re gonna pass out.

Just to make sure I understand: your cure for the mythical travel shock is to shake the crap out of the wine

[GregT]

Mythical?

Did you say mythical?

!

[Nathan_Smyth]

Just to make sure I understand: your cure for the mythical travel shock is to shake the crap out of the wine

No, the idea would have been that since the wines would have already been shaken, you might as well have gone ahead and followed Sparky Marquis’s advice and shaken some fresh oxygen into them [because it’s silly to obsess about whether or not you should further shake a wine which is already freshly shaken - meaning your OCPD can just shut its damned mouth and go sit in the corner of the room and pout for the rest of the evening].

[Marcu_Stanley]

Exactly what I would say.

Big red wines that need some time to “open up” usually do it in an hour or two after a quick double decant, i.e. giving the wine some aeration by decanting it to another container and immediately back to the bottle. The only wines that could actually benefit from really long decanting are those that suffer from reduction, because the reduction masks away most of the aromatics and makes the wine appear dull and stuffy. Decanting them for several hours or letting the wait for 12-24 hours after a double decant usually does the trick.

However, I’d never let a wine stay open for multiple days before a tasting (unless it was a sweet wine or an off-dry Riesling) and even with double-decanting that 24 hours feels rather extreme. I’ve certainly had wines that have been great even after a week of being open, but I can’t remember an instance where they have been better then than soon after opening.

+1 on this

whatever happens after multiple days of leaving a wine open on your kitchen counter, it’s not anything like the normal aging process and it’s not what the wine was intended to taste like.

[John_Morris]

By my tally, your question has elicited the following recommendations:

• Pull the cork some hours ahead, then decant immediately before pouring.
• Decant
• Decant 4 hours ahead
• Decant 6 hours ahead
• Decant 4-12 hours ahead
• Double decant 24 hours ahead
• Open five days ahead

Aren’t you glad you asked?

1-3 hours, vigorous decant and at cellar temp. That’s all I’ve ever needed for a young cab.

I guess I need to update my tally.

[Sc0tt_F_tzgerald]

By my tally, your question has elicited the following recommendations:

• Pull the cork some hours ahead, then decant immediately before pouring.
• Decant
• Decant 4 hours ahead
• Decant 6 hours ahead
• Decant 4-12 hours ahead
• Double decant 24 hours ahead
• Open five days ahead

Aren’t you glad you asked?

1-3 hours, vigorous decant and at cellar temp. That’s all I’ve ever needed for a young cab.

I guess I need to update my tally.

Just delete the rest. Mine is the correct choice.

[John_Morris]

Is there a Berserkers equivalent of an interpleader action, where you sue, saying, in essence, “I don’t have a dog in this fight. You guys duke it out”?

Come to think of it … there’s an emoji: