1966 Bordeaux decant advice

V

VLM

VLM
I'm opening some 1966 Bordeaux for my parents 50th anniversary tomorrow night. I've had them standing up for about a week. Generally, I've only had one bottle at a time which I've decanted right before a meal cooked at home.

This time I have 5 bottles of 4 different wines and we'll be eating out. My original plan was to decant at home before leaving for the restaurant and decant back into the original bottles. This would mean somewhere between 1-2 hours between opening and serving. Alternately, I could take the bottles to the restaurant and decant them there.

Any recent experience with these wines or decanting the same or similar bottles appreciated.

The wines are:
1966 Trotanoy
1966 Vieux Chateau Certan
1966 Leoville Las Cases (x2)
1966 Calon Segur
 
Nathan, if you decant well in advance, you risk the wines being forever gone... which of course would be SO sad. Ideally, take them to the establishment now and have them stood up at cellar temp. If you can't decant at the establishment then it would probably be better to just gingerly pour from the bottle.

Your past strategy is the best bet...

originally posted by VLM: 1966 Bordeaux decant adviceGenerally, I've only had one bottle at a time which I've decanted right before a meal cooked at home.
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. . . . Pete
 
Opened a couple 66's this year--single decant and both showed best after about three hours of air. Haut-Batailley was still going strong on day two. Based on that I would say decant at home prior to heading out to eat.

Congrats to your parents and may all your corks be sound!
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Nathan, if you decant well in advance, you risk the wines being forever gone... which of course would be SO sad. Ideally, take them to the establishment now and have them stood up at cellar temp. If you can't decant at the establishment then it would probably be better to just gingerly pour from the bottle.

Your past strategy is the best bet...

originally posted by VLM: 1966 Bordeaux decant adviceGenerally, I've only had one bottle at a time which I've decanted right before a meal cooked at home.
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. . . . Pete
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Lurkers have reported that bottles need a bit of air and have double decanted to carry to restaurants exactly as I proposed with much success.

Can't just have 1, my whole family will be there.
 
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
Opened a couple 66's this year--single decant and both showed best after about three hours of air. Haut-Batailley was still going strong on day two. Based on that I would say decant at home prior to heading out to eat.

Congrats to your parents and may all your corks be sound!
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Thanks, Kay. Based on your comment and .lurkers, I think that's what we'll do.

When are y'all coming down to visit and work the market?
 
The '66 Calon Segur is a prodigious wine in no danger of fading any time soon. I'm still hanging on to my last bottle. In general, my limited experience with the wines of that year is that they do need some time to open up and are not particularly fragile. Have a great time!

Mark Lipton
 
I'd follow your plan. I don't like taking old wines on a bumpy ride after they've been resting so nicely. And they seem much more likely to need the airing out than to be harmed by it.
Let me know how the Trotanoy and VCC show. Couple friends and I recently acquired a '66 Petrus to drink together and I am pretty psyched about it.
 
I had a great 66 Lynch Bages a few years ago that was full of life though it was served pop and pour in a restaurant. It would not have suffered from a prior decanting.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
Opened a couple 66's this year--single decant and both showed best after about three hours of air. Haut-Batailley was still going strong on day two. Based on that I would say decant at home prior to heading out to eat.

Congrats to your parents and may all your corks be sound!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Kay. Based on your comment and .lurkers, I think that's what we'll do.
Click to expand...

Good choice.

Don't you recall a certain bottle of Barolo a ways back that should have been decanted?....
 
I'm jealous - '66 is my birth year - I don't have a lot of experience with '66 Bordeaux but those I've had were great. I have a '66 Gruaud for later this year...

Surprised by the decant advice, this is good to read to get a new perspective.
 
originally posted by BJ:
I'm jealous - '66 is my birth year - I don't have a lot of experience with '66 Bordeaux but those I've had were great. I have a '66 Gruaud for later this year...

Surprised by the decant advice, this is good to read to get a new perspective.
Click to expand...
Try to track down some '66 Haut-Bailly.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
Opened a couple 66's this year--single decant and both showed best after about three hours of air. Haut-Batailley was still going strong on day two. Based on that I would say decant at home prior to heading out to eat.

Congrats to your parents and may all your corks be sound!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Kay. Based on your comment and .lurkers, I think that's what we'll do.
Click to expand...

Good choice.

Don't you recall a certain bottle of Barolo a ways back that should have been decanted?....
Click to expand...

Wasn't it a Barbaresco?
 
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
I'd follow your plan. I don't like taking old wines on a bumpy ride after they've been resting so nicely. And they seem much more likely to need the airing out than to be harmed by it.
Let me know how the Trotanoy and VCC show. Couple friends and I recently acquired a '66 Petrus to drink together and I am pretty psyched about it.
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I've had the Trotanoy twice already. One bottle was very good, the other was spectacular. Really looking forward to these wines. I even bought a Durand to open them with. It better fucking work.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
The '66 Calon Segur is a prodigious wine in no danger of fading any time soon. I'm still hanging on to my last bottle. In general, my limited experience with the wines of that year is that they do need some time to open up and are not particularly fragile. Have a great time!

Mark Lipton
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I've heard that about the Calon Sequr from .lurker and I think it was mentioned in a thread here some time back. Hoping the LLC shows up too.
 
originally posted by BJ:
I'm jealous - '66 is my birth year - I don't have a lot of experience with '66 Bordeaux but those I've had were great. I have a '66 Gruaud for later this year...

Surprised by the decant advice, this is good to read to get a new perspective.
Click to expand...

If I were doing this at home I'd try to just open them in a basket without standing them up (a la Dougherty) and pour gingerly.

I need to transport them and I don't trust the staff to get old corks out, so it seems like the best bet. I'm doing it right before we leave for the resto.
 
With a 1966 Domaine de Chevalier a month or so ago, I stood it up in the cellar about 2 weeks ahead. On the morning of the tasting, I pulled the cork about 9:00 am and returned it to the cellar, then gently double decanted it around 2:30 pm, and it was nice but a little restrained. When I poured it about 4:00 pm, it had opened up considerably and put on weight, and was pretty terrific. When I took the last pour around 7:00 pm, it was pretty much identical to the way it showed three hours earlier.

For another data point, two weeks ago a friend opened and single decanted a 1970 Pichon Lalande he'd brought to the tasting right before it was served. It wasn't bad, but when I went back to it a couple of hours later, it had improved dramatically with that time in a decanter.

With the quality of wines you are opening, I wouldn't hesitate at all to double decant, as they can probably use the air. If they fall apart quickly, it won't be the air that kills them, it will be past abuse. I'd happily sacrifice the chance to eke out a little pleasure from an off bottle in favor of maximizing the pleasure from a sound bottle by giving it the air it likely needs.
 
originally posted by Mike Evans:
I'd happily sacrifice the chance to eke out a little pleasure from an off bottle in favor of maximizing the pleasure from a sound bottle by giving it the air it likely needs.
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Bingo.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
Opened a couple 66's this year--single decant and both showed best after about three hours of air. Haut-Batailley was still going strong on day two. Based on that I would say decant at home prior to heading out to eat.

Congrats to your parents and may all your corks be sound!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Kay. Based on your comment and .lurkers, I think that's what we'll do.
Click to expand...

Good choice.

Don't you recall a certain bottle of Barolo a ways back that should have been decanted?....
Click to expand...

Wasn't it a Barbaresco?
Click to expand...

Could have been, now that you mention it. Or I could have just said, "Bingo."

Any confirmatory record went to the grave a long time ago to my knowledge. But maybe Santo Stefano.
 
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