Old Wine Question

Bill Lundstrom

Bill Lundstrom

Bill Lundstrom
I have been standing upright a couple very old, 1962 and 1964, gattinaras in anticipation of a birthday celebration tomorrow night. i need to transport them to a restaurant tomorrow. if i pack them tightly in a wine tote and keep them as still as possible during a 30 minute car ride and subsequent short walk to the restaurant, will that keep any sediment from stirring up? or is just the simple act of moving them going to cause the sediment at the bottom of the bottle to mix with the wine?
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
Old Wine QuestionI have been standing upright a couple very old, 1962 and 1964, gattinaras in anticipation of a birthday celebration tomorrow night. i need to transport them to a restaurant tomorrow. if i pack them tightly in a wine tote and keep them as still as possible during a 30 minute car ride and subsequent short walk to the restaurant, will that keep any sediment from stirring up? or is just the simple act of moving them going to cause the sediment at the bottom of the bottle to mix with the wine?
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Your technique should be fine. Decant in such a way that you can see through the neck and stop when the wine flowing through gets silty.
 
Bill, I've tried that same technique, albeit not with bottles that old, in the past with little success. I find that the vibrations of the car are sufficient to put sediment into the wine. It does depend on how fine the sediment is, though. My solution these days is to do a double decant prior to transportation.

Mark Lipton
 
I'm with the Prof and maureen. At least with Bordeaux and Barolo of that age, I've had better luck with the home decant and then back into a (sediment free) bottle.
 
Bill, the sediment will almost surely get stirred up.

Perhaps you can take them to the venue beforehand and stand them up there long enough...and then decant them there as late as possible before your event!?!

. . . . Pete
 
i would have to home decant about 7 hours before dinner. any danger of the wines falling apart if i do it that far in advance of drinking them.

pete, i can get the wines to the restaurant about 5-ish hours before dinner. is that enough time to let any stirred up sediment settle?
 
Bill, Given all that you've said, I would carefully/gingerly transport the wines to the restaurant in advance. 5-ish hours standing up there in a cool (read: 60 degrees) room should be enough until the careful decanting is done; in any event, this is probably your best option as your concern about an early decanting (7 hours) is valid.

If possible, cool the decanters until they're used. These old wines will show better at a cooler (cellar) temperature.

Good luck!

. . . . Pete
 
If you decant at the restaurant, there's no reason to double decant. Just serve the wines from the decanters, thereby reducing the possible fade due to increased aeration during the second decant.

You can circulate the cleansed bottles for desired effect.

. . . . . Pete
 
You're welcome to leave them at my place earlier in the day and then stop by for a double decant before heading to dinner. I promise not to drain them and refill them with leftover samples....
 
Another vote for decant at home. Don't let all your advance work standing them up go to waste. There is going to be a crap-ton of sediment in there it'll take weeks to settle if you take them any further than the walk from the cellar to the table.
 
I would double decant. 7 hours is a fairly long time ahead but maybe the restaurant can keep the wine somewhere cool. I haven't drunk any older Gattinara but various older Carema have needed a number of hours double-decanted.
 
If you double decant beforehand and it's sitting for that long I'd consider refrigerating the wine in the interim to slow down any chemical reactions.
 
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