Old Hermitage Blanc - what to serve with it? (and decant?)

WINE TALK
21

Had 2000 Chave a couple weeks ago off a restaurant list and it was sublime. Had the second bottle they had but was slightly oxidized and while good not nearly so. When it’s on, it’s on!

22

Paired a 1996 Chave Hermitage Blanc with pesto several years ago (the recipe article recommended a white CdP). Went very well.

Cheers,
Doug

23

A 2005 Chapoutier “Le Meal” blanc (mag!) was heavenly with lobsters on Cape Cod this past Summer. An interesting change of pace from our traditional Corton Charlemagne.

24

Thanks, all! Does anyone have any decanting advice? Is this one of those really reductive wines or others that, even when this old, needs extended decanting to “wake up,” or more likely to be one that starts to degrade an hour or two after opening?

In either event, I will report back but for various reasons I’m not opening this one with the upcoming dinner as planned, so it will probably be some time in 2020. I will certainly refer back to this thread at that point, though!

Thanks again,

Dave

25

My first few bottles of L’Oree 1991 were fine when I opened them before age 10.

After that… some of bottles started to turn yellowish looking when I placed them on the white cloth. So I started to open the most yellowish looking ones - one by one periodically. Most of them became oxidized. Many were undrinkable and/ some were not enjoyable at all and it did not matter how long I left them in the decanter [swearing.gif].

Most of them are like what Nather Smyth described in Post No. 16.

The color of my last 2 bottles are still slightly yellowish looking…but…I will hang onto them until the year 2021.

26

I know the 1991 but haven´t had it for a while.
Older Hermitage is often odd and suspicious after opening.
I once had a 1981 H. (not Chapoutier) that was not very good even after 4-5 hours. I forgot the rest in the (recorked) bottle in my (cool) cellar. When I found it again after 8-9 months (!) it was outstanding !!!

The best I can recommend: opening as early in advance as possible (8-12 hours, better a full day), taste a tiny amount and recork or put a paper tissue on the opening …keep cool … retaste well before serving and decide how long to decant (20 min to 2 hours) … it should at least be kind of awake …
even when tasting slightly oxidized (nutty) it can well recover … (hopefully)

27

Merci…Gerhard [thankyou.gif] . I will open one bottle around the week-end of 2020/01/23 to 2020/01/26 - Chinese New year - as per your suggestion ( and cross my finger ).

Yes - good old memory for my first encounter of nutty taste…in my L. Latour CC 1982. I kept on smell the wine…and looking and looking

28

This is consistent with the old saw about Hermitage blanc being good for a few years, then going through a phase exactly like you describe where bottles will seem dead and oxidized, but then after a decade or so of that, miraculously recovering. I have read enough about that phenomenon over the years to believe it, but also to believe that this bottle should long ago have passed back into the land of the living.

I’ve read less, though, about when to open/decant bottles old enough to have done so. Thanks to Gerhard for his insights in that department!

Loren has a CT note from 2016 loving the wine but noting that it needed some air. Burgundy Al and two others have more recent notes, again all positive (and Al noting that it has emerged from the dormant phase), but none of them discuss decanting or air time.

Thanks again to all!

29

Peter,
I´m curious to hear how it turned out …

30

I will post the result…

31

We had an '84 Guigal Hermitage Blanc this past summer. Still had freshness, acidity and character. We enjoyed it with a variety of different cheeses.

32

Dave… at my age I prefer quietness this days; and my memories with my past 14 bottles of L’Oree 1991…are fading.

For what I remember…I did many, many experiments - from what I heard and learned - with each and every bottles as I did not give up on them easily ( as they were quite pricey in 1994/1995). Most of them…became undrinkable ( regardless what I did ) and some might improved a bite but were not enjoyable. I do not recall any one of them…bought a smile on my face.

I will report back after the Chinese New Year ( around 2020/01/23 to 2010/01/27 ).

Hope I will have some luck…like Loren and Burgundy Al !!