There was a recent thread on wines that taste better the next day. My approach varies with my expectations. I will drink a young syrah over 2 days, but with a 10 year old Bordeaux would try and decant a couple of hours before dinner and still the last glass is often the best.
For me it is just poor planning. Ideally, we would make a decision about what we were having for dinner in the morning and I would pull a bottle and open it right then. In reality, I am often scrambling to find a bottle when dinner is almost ready. Before the pandemic, we often took wine to restaurants and the choice was often last minute. Lack of planning meant we drank our wine almost immediately after it was opened and consume most of it in the first hour. Not many wines show their best under those circumstances.
Seldom decant but always try the wine next day too. And maybe also 3rd day
When we have multiple bottles open, we generally do not decant. There’s no attempt at any specific overnight storage, other than making sure the bottles have corks in them.
It’s often a mix of white and red, but not always. And sometimes it’s definitely a theme.
I feel differently than Sarah, in that a lot of the red wines we open seem to be better the following nights. Not always though, but either way we sampled them through the range and can adjust with specific wines when we open them again in the future.
Also-we drink mostly traditional producers, often utilizing stems in the winemaking(not always though). And almost exclusively from cooler regions in Europe, along with the Willamette Valley. So, I feel, our cellar is skewed to wines that want more air rather than less(and I very much agree with Charlie Fu’s Grandpa Joe analogy). Not trying to be self righteous with this, just saying that if I drank CdP or Napa, I might do it differently but I don’t know.
I also really like this process for exploring producers that are new to me. I can open younger wines and get a better feel for whether I want to add them to my cellar in a bigger way without having to hold a few bottles for 10 years and then start collecting.
I do find this a challenge in general. I oftentimes will try a wine after opening and ‘judge’ it pretty quickly, only to find that the wine transforms over time. It’s what makes large tastings with multiple bottles really challenging - like Falltacular, for instance.
And I’m faced with this every day in my tasting room - I tell folks that it is like a first date or first impression - and we all know how wrong we can be there!
Cheers.
I’m generally a believer in decanting almost everything. Sometimes that doesn’t work out (wines can also shut down with air), though usually it does. But then sometimes people come over to your roof and you decide to pop and pour a 16 Barolo. It goes both ways. I don’t think it’s something that warrants a confession!
Since I split wines over two nights I never decant unless there is some real problem with excessive sediment. Bottles that will be drank the same evening see more aggressive choices in terms of decanting.
Isn’t this what cocktails are for? A pre dinner drink lubricates the appetite and the conversation and provides time for the wine to breathe!
That’s actually brilliant. ![[winner.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/07ec25c9fd71159fe15d7f1ba5fad64e91238d0e.gif "winner"){kind=small}
I have wondered whether “last glass best” speaks more to my condition at that point than that of the wine.
I try to decant an hour or two in advance when I can, especially if I think there will be sediment. Some middle aged wines (e.g. Barolo or Bordeaux in the 10-20 year old range) need a bit more and I’ll try to decant those 4-6 hours ahead.
Covid has destroyed my restaurant visits but they’ll come around again. But the question remains - how to handle decanting/breathing time at restaurants? If I’m just bringing one bottle to a non-wine focused dinner I’m hesitant to double decant in advance. I’ve had restaurants complain about bottles opened before arriving.
I’ve tried double decanting in advance, then re-corking so it looks unopened. But then I have to insist on “opening” it. Possibly awkward.
Another more typical option is to ask to have a bottle opened and decanted immediately upon arrival. Then have a BTG or cocktail and hold the wine back for the main courses. This requires a slower paced meal and often doesn’t give much decant time. I’ve also found some bottles unopened even after an hour, unnoticed because I was distracted by ordering or good conversation with friends.
Minor issues all. I’d love to return to restaurants and restaurant social life, would happily accept my occasionally imperfectly decanted bottles.
This
This is something I have been pondering for many years. Is it just the wine that is ‘decanting’, or does my consumption increase my enjoyment/appreciation of the wine?
A couple months ago at a small wine gathering for 3 of us…I brought a 2012 Croix De Beaucaillou.
I wrapped it in a brown bag to make it a guess.
Opened and left in a rubber cork.
My wine expert friend…(Jeff Vaughn here knows Eric)
Tasted before it had opened and thought italian.
In the decanter… it opened an hour later.
The aroma and taste was superb once it opened.
It easily was way better than a 2015 Reserve de comtesse (2nd wine of Pinchon Lalande)
That one needs more time even being a 2nd wine.
But the Croix 12 was so much better i traded the 4 bottles I had of that Reserve back to TW for two Chappellet Signatures and two 16 Barnett cab’s.
Spring mountain district. + 13$ each (Now that wine Rocks!)
Soooo…last night I had to try a La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou 2018. I’ve been accumulating bottles and have 4.
Opened and gave a full 2 hour decant.
I think it could have used 5 hrs or more.
But Jeff Leve gave it a 93 and I can see why.
It needs a few more years…but was still excellent.
I’m guilty too.
I need to be more dillegent about decanting.
I treat wine as a golf. Look where I want it ti go, prepare for the shot and make a slow deliberate swing, Never open till you’re ready.Helps with putting too.
I also do not decant my wines these days. I used to be a religious “decanter”.
I am more pleased with trying a glass on night one, re-corking the bottle, and then tasting the remaining wine over the next 2-3 days. Each bottle I have tried via this method has revealed the various “faces” of a wine. Some bottles have performed best on night #3 or #4, but almost none have on the first evening.
You are thinking too much! Exhale on the swing? 
Eh. Grip it and rip it
Yes I suck at golf
My approach: recklessly take a whack at it and hope that it veers off in a good direction
very guilty of this, and it has to do with planning. for as much time as i spend researching, reading and thinking about wine, I’m often grabbing a bottle with too short of a window to give it proper air and then consume it too rapidly.