Assuming You Care – How Do You Prep Sediment Heavy Wines (Pick Up to 2)?
Store in cradle ahead of time
Store horizontally + cradle
Store horizontally + make bottle upright before opening
Store upright prior to opening
Store upright, then horizontally, and then cradle
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Curious what sediment-cautious wine drinkers do for prepping their older wines for drinking (thinking Burgundy, Nebbiolo, Bordeaux etc.). Specifically, do you stand a bottle vertically for some time, or store a bottle horizontally/use a wine cradle?
I had personally taken out the shelving of my little wine chillers to stand the bottles vertically. This way, a bottle had been standing for 1-3 months (or longer) before I opened it. I could carry the bottle vertically and open it normally, pour horizontally as a double decant, and be off on my way with some clear grape juice. Figured I was a genius. However, the sediment near the bottom of the punt would sometimes get cloudy a little earlier than I would expect and I would be tossing out a splash of wine more than I would have expected (not a glass worth, just a healthy splash… maybe equivalent to a tasting pour). And then I realized there is probably a reason why the rest of the world stores horizontally – and its not just capacity. Meaning, you may preserve more of a bottle (or at least obviate the need for a double decant) if you (i) store horizontally, (ii) move to a wine cradle, and (iii) pour from the wine cradle (whether as a decant or just during service). This seems like a bit more work though…
One to three months? Yikes. I stand old wine that has been in racks for a long time upright on a table in my cellar for a few days tops. I then decant using a flashlight and use some cheese cloth at the end when I see sediment in the neck. Pretty straight forward.
I do both; I have a workbench in the cellar where I’ll stand up things I’ll drink in the next 6 months or so, then put them into cradles a week or so before opening.
I’ve found that in virtually all instances, 2-3 days is enough for the deposit to settle down.
A little while ago I had a Produttori del Barbaresco 2016-1970 vertical, to which I brought the wines a few days beforehand in my backback and kept them upright in cellar temp in the tasting venue. With a careful decant, all the wines were crystal clear with no deposit at all.
Same thing with a Vintage Port tasting last fall and red Burgundy tasting a year or two ago. I’ve arranged dozens and dozens of - perhaps close to a hundred - tastings and double-decanted several hundreds of bottles in them. I’ve never had problems with deposit and usually keeping the bottle vertical for a period of 2-3 days has always been enough. If I’ve been very iffy, a week tops. I honestly don’t understand why some people insist on keeping the wine upright for weeks or even months prior to opening it.
This is the way. Roughly 1-2 days ahead (I’ve done a hour and it was fine too, but better with a day or 2) I’ll carefully take the bottle out of the horizontal racking and lay it into a basket. The sediment will pool at the very corner of the bottle and stay there. Extracts the most clear wine once you decant for sediment as the sediment is pooled in one small corner opposed to a ring around the bottom of the bottle.
This is the way Berns/Tour D’argent all do it with their old wines.
A couple years ago in our FB wine group we were discussing this, everyone said stand it up X days. William Costello (MS) said - no - just pull and rest it in a basket, it’ll get more clear wine out. No one believed him (especially me). Started using a basket and pulling from horizontal instead of standing it up. He was absolutely correct. Now a few of the guys in my group have started doing the same and all said the same, it’s the way to go and doesn’t require a week+ of lead time
I like to periodically look through Cellar Tracker and see what might be in a good window, and then I’ll go ahead and stand up those bottles (if I think sediment might be an issue) so that I have an “on deck” of aged wines standing up. I end up building an anticipation around those bottles and planning meals around them. But of course I still grab bottles on the spur of the moment and hope for the best, and it usually works out ok.
Stand older wines upright for 2-8 weeks prior to opening. Usually keep a small selection upright for this purpose. Do lay wines back down if I don’t decide to open upright wines after 2-3 months. Don’t stand up burgundy, as I’ve rarely seen much in the way of heavy sediment.
No, standing up wine for 2-3 months does not impact cork integrity.
I’m having trouble understanding this. You stand up (to get sediment to bottom), and then lay back down?
I use a cradle when just grabbing one or two, but often stand up other bottles if expecting to do multiples . But have never stood up a bottle and then laid into cradle. Seems worst of both worlds,
Otherwise I just use the wooden one on Amazon. I also have some magnum owc that I use as a cradle as well.
Had a weekend where I was holding all the wine for the two dinners so my storage looked like this. Viewing Angle is weird cause I had to use the wide lense but everything was resting angled up
I have a couple of magnums standing upright for going on three years. Maybe one day I’ll open them.
Also two old barolo (roughly 40 & 60 y/o) standing upright for over a year. Opened the 40 y/o one recently. No issues with the cork drying out. It was the cleanest decant ever, as all the sediment had caked to the bottom. The wine was in great shape.
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