Pinky wrote:
> My only rider to this is that if you open an old quality vintage wine "m=
any
> hours before drinking" you are very likely to find it spoiled. My reds of
> standard vintage I tend to open an hour before drinking and bring them up=
to
> "chambr=E9" b4 that!
> I rarely decant since I find that most modern wines do not need it and I =
get
> pleasure from seeing the wine label. But with a good vintage wine like a
> premiere crus I might decant it --- but only just before serving.

That is conventional wisom, no doubt, but there is a gentleman on
another forum that specializes in very old wines (and I mean old) who
uses this technique and swears by it. I've tried it with 8-10 year old
wines and I've been impressed enough to continue the practice, even
with my old wines when the occasion presents itself.

I've opened first growths from the 1960s that definitely needed more
than the decant and drink treatment. This was before I tried this other
gentleman's technique and even after decanting, the wine needed hours
to open up to it's full potential.

The opening but not decanting allows a very slow ingress of air which
appears to make all the difference but does require significant time.
Of course, you may still have to decant just before drinking because of
sediment, but this would be done as gently as possible.=20

Andy