I've Got A Date and I'm Nervous Updated

WINE TALK
21

Let the restaurant open it. Doing it at home is silly. A 2001 Latour does not need 2 hours of air. 5 minutes in the glass is all it needs.

22

Michael likely knows more about this than I do, but I do always prefer the wine to be opened and decanted in front of me.

23

Celebrating your 70th with your son is such a treat. The win will likely only make it better

24

What Merrill said…esp with seasoning the decanter with a bit of wine and dumping. The same thing works with glasses as well. Pour a bit in the first glass, swirl around, transfer the bit of wine into the next glass and repeat. This is common (or somewhat common) in Italy, for this reason.

The big issue is how much time to decant. The big risk here is under decanting and not having the wine open up and show you what it has. A lot depends the condition of the wine when you bought it and on how cool your cellar has been…but I wouldn’t pop and pour as was suggested above since you’re likely to miss a lot/most of what makes Latour special. In your situation, I’d decant ~3 hours before dinner, taste a tiny bit at the hour and 2 hour mark, and pour back in the bottle when it begins to be approachable.

25

Have a wonderful birthday Ken.

26

I love how you’ll get hundreds of different answers to this question proving that wine is an art and not a science (entirely). Here’s what I would do: Carefully stand it up a week early in your cellar to collect the loose sediment on the bottom of the bottle. At home, a few hours before dinner, carefully decant the wine and then rinse out the bottle and then pour the wine back in to the clean and dry bottle. Replace the cork all the way in so that the restaurant cannot tell it has been removed. Now you can bring it to the restaurant and give it to the Somm to open. It won’t have the foil, but no big deal. The air that you gave it on the double decant assisted but wasn’t over the top, it will still open up more in your glass.

27

What a beautiful wine, and a wonderful birthday to go with it.

Most important advice here is: if you decide to decant at home, it’s crucial to check with the restaurant ahead of time. I’ve had bottles rejected because they were opened at home.

The easier approach is just to have the restaurant decant the wine when you arrive and spend the first hour sipping champagne or a cocktail, then start with the wine when the meal arrives. Depends on the serving pace of the restaurant but is less stress!

28

I’m a believer in letting the chef be the chef and letting the front of house people do their job; it will enhance the overall experience. Being overly anal about the wine will diminish the experience in that they seldom reach unrealistic expectations. Tell them you want to go slow so that you both can savor the experience. Enjoy!

29

Wonderful. Happy Birthday and please let guys know how the wine showed and any other highlights of the evening.

30

Happy Birthday Ken!

I say eat the sediment afterwards. It’s Latour! First Growth poprocks.

31

+1, thats a good idea

32

Agreed. Surely this thread has the best click-bait title ever!

33

It depends on whether there’s already a lot of sediment in the bottle. If there’s enough sediment that you can see it, it’s a good idea to double-decant before you go to the restaurant to
avoid stirring up the sediment in the handling on the way.

Bruce

34

Never had a problem with sediment. 24 hours standing up and keeping it upright during the trip to the restaurant. If a little gets in your glass at the end of pouring, no problem. It will stay at the bottom of the glass while you drink.

35

Agreed. Some time ago, I dated a man who had an amazing cellar. He would tote wines up to my place from SF for the extended weekend. Actually, he kept a “sub-cellar” here for many years. When it came to some wines, he (and eventually, I), knew which ones would not successfully make the trip from SF to Calistoga for near-term consumption, and then on to a St. Helena restaurant. Not that they weren’t great wines, but some “traveled” better than others. We are talking an age and quality of a Heitz Martha’s of the 70s kind of thing.

Best to join each other in the kitchen to cook, and enjoy those wines at home.

I am assuming that after posting here and on eBob for well over 12 years, people know I am over the top in wine preparation. Never hurt anything except for some sommeliers’ sensibilities. [cheers.gif]

36

Happy Birthday Ken! Should be a terrific bottle of wine.

37

[shock.gif] [scratch.gif]

(… are you talking about Coke …?)

38

WOW ! I had expected a couple of replies to this thread but you people went above & beyond the call of duty. Many thanks for all the suggestions and well wishes. Much appreciated.

What a fantastic evening it was. The venue, War Horse Investments is a “members only” speakeasy type dinner club that my son’s brother-in-law works at. He was our ticket in the door. War Horse has really flown under the radar and almost no information on it available on the internet. Entrance is through a pivoting bookcase leading into a bar area. The theme is movies and movie star pictures. The menu covers nearly everything but its forte is dry aged beef. With this lovely bottle of Latour on hand, we opted for the ribeye.
I kept the bottle sealed until we arrived at the restaurant. The som. immediately uncorked and decanted the wine. There was surprisingly very little sediment on the bottom. It sat for about an hour while we enjoyed appetizers and an “amuse booze”. Just before the steaks were served, we had the first taste of the wine. There was a slight barnyard aroma but it was very difficult to taste. VERY smooth silky tannins and a wonderful complex array of fruit notes. Unfortunately age diminishes many of our senses with hearing being at the top but I’ve noticed my taste buds have become a bit “hard of hearing” as of late as well. I’m sure this wine was singing notes that I couldn’t pick up. I couldn’t detect much of a change in the wine from first taste until we finished a couple of hours later. I saved a taste to take home to my wife. She’s a much better taster than I and her comment was “I see why people pay that much for wine like this”.
All in all it was an absolutely fabulous evening. I can’t thank my son Scott enough for putting it together. I’m a lucky man.

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts and help.

39

Glad everything went as hoped, Ken. We are all pretty much lucky; it is the ticket of entry into this hobby. Cheers on your birthday

40

Glad you enjoyed it. I’ve actually had two other people say “oh, so that’s why it’s so expensive” when drinking Latour.