Everybody wants a wine to show well . . .

[PaulMills]

I opened a wine yesterday at a family lunch and I did not think It showed well. Those that drank it are not wine people so they had no clue, but the whole time I was thinking I should have brought something else. I tasted a little again last night and same thought, uninspiring. One glass left for tonight. It had improved greatly. Still not what I thought it should be.

I have had other wines not show well with wine people, they understand it so I TRY not to worry about it too much.

17 Goodfellow Berserker Cuvée? That wine is super tight and not showing much right now.

No, it was a CA Syrah. Good to know that though, I was considering opening one soon.

[Robert.A.Jr]

Yes I think you guys are right. Thanks for confirming. And damn I missed some good wines that I popped, lol. Oh well, family liked them.

[Howard_Cooper]

Air is one thing, but if you have something you care about and want to show well, this is best place to ask if anyone has had it lately and their treatment.

This.

While I agree with Dan’s recommendation to let it breathe, a wine opened years before it is mature will not show as well as that same wine opened at maturity, no matter how much time you give it to breathe. A more reliable technique is to ask someone who’s tried it recently and whose palate I trust. Here and CellarTracker are great resources. Sometimes the best approach is to let it sit a few more years and open something else. If the consensus is that it needs hours to come around after opening, it’s good to know that before pulling the cork just before dinner is served.

I think the “whose palate I trust” is key. Too often, esp. on CellarTracker, I read notes that say a wine is over the hill only to taste the wine and find that it is actually closed and too young. Some of this is different people looking for different things in a wine. Some of it is people buying wines on the secondary market that have not been stored well and show older than wines bought when young and stored properly. And some of this is just people writing notes without sufficient experience to be able to tell a closed wine from a wine over the hill - I will admit to a number of mistakes I made in this regard when I was younger - I particularly remember a 1988 Vosne Romanee from Bruno Clair that I thought was over the hill. Didn’t drink my remaining bottle for years because why bother. When I finally opened one, it was great.

[David_Glasser]

I agree, Howard, random TNs can be misleading. On CT, if you “star” those members whose palates you trust to become a “fan,” their TNs will float to the top. Here on WB, it doesn’t take too long to figure out who has similar preferences.