Decant Times for Madeira

[Roy Hersh]

I am curious about your thoughts on decanting of Madeira. Regardless of age, I always try to decant for 24 hours. With older Madeiras that have been in the bottle for an extended period, sometimes 2 days or more is what I feel, brings out the true character and best profile of the wine (think for example, Blandy's). However, with a company like D'Oliveiras which bottles just about everything, just in time to hit the marketplace, I feel the bottles don't need more than 24 hours to show their best.

What is your methodology and thoughts on this process?

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

One of the folks at the tasting at Triomphe (for which I owe you pictures) said one week for each decade since bottling. This ‘0.2% bottle age’ rule he demonstrated by bringing one of the best wines of the evening, decanted six months earlier. Since then my guide is also 0.2%.

[Peter Reutter]

I used to think that one or two days is enough, and I agree, that recent bottlings probably do not need more than 24 hours.
But with old vintages, especially with a long time in bottle (let's say 30+ years) I more and more get the impression that they benefit from a week of decanting, sometimes even more. The Borges 1925 Boal when I sent it to you had been opened for months and I could really taste the difference between a couple of days decanting and some months.
I also never had a Madeira wine going bad in the few months it survived at my place, or fading out. So I guess that some wines could benefit from decanting beyond the typical 24-48 hours.