I have a trip to Vegas coming up in a few weeks and one of my dinners is at an Italian restaurant Ferraro’s. I think I’m going to buy one of their Barolos that has a significant amount of age to it among other bottles. It made me wonder after reading the tips here whether people arrange ahead of time when they’re going to buy older wines so that the restaurant has the opportunity to stand it up, decant ahead of the meal if needed, etc.? Or am I being too particular about serving conditions?
I don’t think you are being too particular. I typically do this if I know what I am going to purchase. I suspect this is something a good restaurant in LV will experience on a regular basis. I have also dropped my wine off early at a restaurant with instructions about when to decant. The latter happens when I am not going to be home for several hours prior to going to the restaurant and don’t want to carry wine around in my car all day. You want your experience to be optimal which requires optimal handling of the wine. Go for it.
2 Likes
Yes all the time. In this type of situation I usually will just drop by and talk to the somm the day+ before and make arrangements. A phone call could do.
2 Likes
Ferraro’s is very accommodating. Give them a call.
1 Like
Definitely call ahead and have them prepare the bottle. Depending on your familiarity with the vintage and producer, you may want to ask the somm for recommendations on serving. Old barolo (30+ years) is sometimes best with a relatively quick decant in a low surface exposure decanter, just long enough for heavy sediment to settle. I’ve killed a couple of really good bottles by over exposing them.
1 Like
I’m planning on it. I assume it’s like most restaurants and their main staff is scheduled Tuesday - Saturday so I was waiting till tomorrow.
I only land a few hours before this dinner, otherwise I would’ve stopped by to talk to the Somm.
1 Like
I actually did this recently for a dinner in Italy on a couple of barolos from the 70’s. I called in advance to tell them what I was interested and asked for their recommendations on if the wines should be decanted before our arrival. They actually surprised me and said that for the wines I’d chosen they recommend they open them on my arrival. They were very correct! The first was perfect on opening but by the time we finished the bottle I could tell we would have been very disappointed had it sat for a couple of hours.
This type of great service is something that helps take the sting off restaurant markups.
2 Likes
Could not agree more. Ask the somm.
One other reason to ask the Somm… They are on the hook if a bottle is faulty, so better/fairer to put the onus on them to ensure it will show at its best. It would be an uncomfortable situation if they were instructed by a customer to open it hours in advance, for it to smell alive and well on opening, but to have fallen over by the time the customer rocks up for their meal.
It has been said here ad nauseum that old Barolo usually needs a lot of air. While I’m no authority, it could be your experiences were such because enough time had not occurred. It has also been said here that old Barolo usually has very fine sediment and requires multiple days of standing for it to sufficiently settle. It would be good to ask them to retain the bottle and cork.
1 Like
As others have already said, definitely give them a call. This is what the Somm is there for! At the end of the day, they want you to have the best experience possible and any extra communication from you ahead of time will go a long way in making that happen. It’s not an imposition at all and I’m confident that their team will go to extra lengths because you are showing that you care about your experience.
1 Like
i’m gonna ask “and how much are we tipping for this extra service?” just to spice it up here.
Optimal decant time can vary wildly based on producer and vintage, which is why I suggested asking the somm if unfamiliar with the specific wine.
I completely disagree that old Barolo “usually needs a lot of air.” Its seems the italian somm JeremyR referred to above would as well… Some do and some don’t, so I would suggest consulting the somm before risking a good vintage barolo. It is also very evident when a barolo has lost its vibrancy from too much decant time. Not something I would confuse with its opposite.
Old high-quality barolo has very fine sediment but there are always heavy pieces. If at home, I would suggest standing up any bottle over 30 years old for at least two weeks. Not always practical in a restaurant setting… A short decant can usually remove the larger, unpleasant bits. Just my experience.
1 Like
We are eating there next Friday, if you make it before us don’t take all the good stuff!
.
1 Like
Mark - I would say my experience has been much more varied (and I would say far more varied than with other varietals). Like you suggest, I have had many bottles that required 8 hours decant time to open up. Some longer. But I have also had many that begin to fade at that point. I am not trying to say don’t decant barolo. I don’t think I have ever had a high quality bottle that wasn’t better after an hour or two (what I consider a “short decant”), but for many this is the sweet spot. I would estimate 25% of high quality bottles 30+ in age I’ve tried fall in this category. Do you want to take a 25% chance of over exposing the bottle by instructing a restaurant to decant 4 hours prior, or just ask the somm for their recommendation?
I also imagine this is largely about what appeals to you in barolo. To me, the nose is a big part of the experience, and I like to start the drinking window before the fleeting volatile compounds (rose, cherry, etc) begin to dissipate.
Decanting when I’m at the restaurant will not be an issue for me.
The bigger issue is that I like my old wine (mostly) free of sediment and standing up, or laying on a wine cradle, for an extended period is the best way to free it of sediment. Are restaurant somms amenable to doing that to an old bottle for, say, 2 weeks?
This is one of my bigger concerns with ordering a 30+ year old Barolo and what I plan on talking to the Somm about, I don’t mind pre-ordering based on their recommendation but I’m hoping that we can set up ideal conditions for it. Stand it up a week or two ahead of time, have it brought to serving temp so it’s ready to go.
And I would strongly disagree. Having both arranged and been to numerous Piedmont tastings where wines going back to late 1940’s have been poured, I’ve seen that it’s enough if one lifts the wines to a vertical position 1-2 days in advance. If I have older wines, I never bring them in the day of the tasting, but very often I go to the offsite the day before the tasting, dig up the bottles from my cabinet and leave them standing up so they are easily at hand for the next day. I’ve never ever had problems with the deposit - with a careful double decant, the wines have always been crystal-clear (of course as long as they haven’t been oxidized, which can turn the wines hazy and murky).
1 Like