Decant times

[Aaron Nix Gomez]

So after rescheduling and many emails back & forth, my tasting of 1966/1970/1977 Graham's, Taylor's, and Warre's is finally taking place this Saturday. I followed this board's advice last time with regards to the 1983 Warre's and 1985 Dow's and was very pleased.

Any recommendations on decant times?

Thank you in advance,

Aaron

[Moses Botbol]

Are you doing 3 bottles or 9 bottles?

4 hours before drinking time will be good start. I do not think "you'll miss the boat" especially on the Taylor. The '77 Grahams is not much to write home about (considering how special the '77 vintage was suppose to be), and Warre's should be pretty velvety. The Taylor's should have no problem with 8 hours decanting.

[Aaron Nix Gomez]

We're tasting nine bottles, three vintages from each. I only have scattered vintage port experience so I am trying to maximize the experience. My friends always talk about the 1977 vintage so I thought we'd use that as a reference point to show how good 1966 and 1970 are.



Aaron

[Andy Velebil]

I disagree with Moses about the 77 Graham's. It was know for being very hot on the palate. In the past year I've had 3 bottles that showed remarkable improvement. The heat is finally starting to integrate and it's now a very nice bottle of VP. I'd give the Graham's about 6-7 hours. Actually, I'd go with about 6-7 hours for all of them, except maybe the 66's at around 5-6 hours to start.

This assumes you'll start drinking the 66's first then by the time you work you're way to the younger ones they will have most likely been open another hour or two by then.

[Aaron Nix Gomez]

Andy, Moses,

Thank you for the advice. In previous searches I did notice some variation in views about the 1977 Graham's. I'm rather excited to try them all.

We will each have a glass for each port but the plan is to start with the 1966s. We'll visit the wines over a couple hours.

Aaron

[Glenn E.]

my tasting of 1966/1970/1977 Graham's, Taylor's, and Warre's is finally taking place this Saturday.

Fun! Sounds like a great tasting, I hope you have a wonderful time.

In addition to what the others have said, I'd probably decant the '70 and '77 Taylor Fladgates an extra hour. I think you'll want 7-8 hours of decant time on those at the time you start tasting them.

The trick, of course, is to plan the tasting and decant times together. If you're going to taste the three 1966s first, then you'll have an extra 30-60 minutes of decant time on the next flight (presumably the 1970s) before you start them. Factor that into your decant schedule, and then another 30-60 minutes for the 1977s.

The 1966 Graham and 1970 Taylor are two of my favorite VPs. I'm jealous!

[Aaron Nix Gomez]

Glenn,

Thank you. I'll report back on Monday with all of my impressions and tasting notes.

Aaron

[Andy Velebil]

Glenn,

Thank you. I'll report back on Monday with all of my impressions and tasting notes.

Aaron

Excellent, I look forward to reading about it.

[Jonathan S]

Glenn,

Thank you. I'll report back on Monday with all of my impressions and tasting notes.

Aaron

I'm looking forward to hearing about your impressions, too, Aaron. You're not too far away from me, by the way! Perhaps one day we can get together.

[Glenn E.]

Thank you. I'll report back on Monday with all of my impressions and tasting notes.

Sounds great, I can't wait!

[Aaron Nix Gomez]

Thanks guys. Jonathan, we should plan something for the fall.

Aaron