Decanting 2007s: Big Questions

[John M.]

Key question: We having a Port Club meeting in a few days and I've got some 2007's. After reading Roy's 2007 notes, I get the impression the best thing to do is to decant these a few days prior to the meeting which goes against his "decanting guidelines"--esp. the 12 hour max. rule. So I am a bit unsure.

Any reccomendations? We're really novices and any help would be greatly appreciated.

We've got the following 2007s: Dow, Burmester, Taylor Fladgate & Grahams.

BTW: Our Port Club is 10 gents who are good friends who like to get together for comaraderie. We've been meeting for about 2 years now about 6-7 times a year.

Thanks for your help.

John M.
High Bridge Port Club (New Jersey)

[Glenn E.]

John,

I would decant the Dow, Graham, and Taylor Fladgate for 24 hours. You could even go for 30 or 36 hours if you want to. I haven't actually had the Burmester, but my guess is that 24-36 hours would work for it as well.

The cask samples and early bottles that I tasted changed quite a bit over 4 days, and Day 2 (+24 hours) was usually either the best day or the 2nd best day. On some occasions Day 4 (+72 hours) was best, but on other occasions Day 4 was clearly past the peak so I wouldn't risk it. We usually opened the bottles just shortly before tasting on Day 1, typically no more than 2-3 hours, and Day 1 was almost uniformly the worst day.

I can't wait to see your tasting notes, please post 'em when you're done!

[John M.]

Thanks Glenn;

Appreciate the immediate and helpful response.

[Moses Botbol]

36 hours does not seem a stretch. Are you pouring them back into the bottle of keeping them in decanters?

[John M.]

Hi Moses;

Into a decanter, but likley not the Burmester. I do not have that many decanters. Curious....What is the difference? Thanks.

[Moses Botbol]

Hi Moses;

Into a decanter, but likley not the Burmester. I do not have that many decanters. Curious....What is the difference? Thanks.

If you were just decanting and pouring back into the bottle, I would go 48 hours on all of them. It may preserve the aromatics some too. I guess that could be a thread of it's own, if true, but I think it is. If you feel it's still too tight 4 hours before serving time, pour them into the decanters.

[Derek T.]

John,

As you are all obviously experienced port tasters/drinkers, albeit novices at tasting a new vintage, would your group be up for a little experiment?

I tasted around 20 x 2007 VP cask samples in May 2007. It was the first time I had tasted a new VP and I carried out the tastings completely blind over a period of 3 or 4 days in batches of 4 bottles. It was extremely interesting to see how my impressions of each wine changed from one session to another, a phenomena that I think most people who have tried this will agree with.

I would suggest that your group stray from your normal single night events and find a time when you can all meet up two nights in succession, or 2 nights over a period of 3 or 4 days. Decant the wines 12 hours in advance of the first session and wrap all the bottles in aluminium foil. Ideally, ask your wife or someone else you trust to wrap the bottles for you so that you have no way of identifying which is which. Stick a number on each bottle for identification during the tastings. Proceed to taste each of the wines on two different nights. Each person should take separate notes on each night. On the second night, no one should read their notes from the previous tasting before taking the second note. If you want this to be totally blind, have someone replace the numbers with letters having taken note of the number-letter combinations to ensure the wines can be identified at the end.

Once you have all the notes and the bottles are empty, reveal the number-letter combinations and have everyone put together a consolidated note on each wine and rank them in order of preference (or score them if that is what you guys do). Once everyone has declared their preferences, likes and dislikes, unwrap the bottles and reveal the wines.

Then post the results here

Derek

[John M.]

One more question...So I've decanted the port. Do I leave the stopper/cork out for the 24-36 hours to let the wine breathe or do I replace it?

[Eric Menchen]

Let it breathe ...
Put something gas permeable over the top if you are worried about bugs or excessive dust getting in, but I doubt that is an issue this time of year.

[Peter W. Meek]

Fruit flies are with us at all times. Eva and I judge the quality of wines by how fast the fruit flies show up. There is an amazing correlation to how much we enjoy the actual taste.

Keeping them out of the wine is a personal judgement: They don't drink too much of the wine, and add (subtract?) very little to the taste.

[Andy Velebil]

Fruit flies are with us at all times. Eva and I judge the quality of wines by how fast the fruit flies show up. There is an amazing correlation to how much we enjoy the actual taste.

Keeping them out of the wine is a personal judgement: They don't drink too much of the wine, and add (subtract?) very little to the taste.

i'm not touching that one

[Luc Gauthier]

When fruit flies drink VP , do they decant ?

[John M.]

Thanks all, for the decanting advice (with all the little flies doing the De-Can(t)-Can(t) over our wine in a Toulose-Latrec moment)--our meeting turned out well; lots of fun with a number of wives and their girlfriends coming after their movie excursion--our meeting turned into a party of sorts.

I decanted the 2007 Taylor for 24 hours as suggested and it seemed sound. I also noted Andy V had decanted Warre's Warrior for 2-3 days in one of his TNs, I did 2 days. Still a bit wild, but porbably a v. good decanting period. You may have caught a similar thread I started on a Quinta Do Estanho bottle which oxidized and turned out like a tawny.

Derek: I did try the blind test. It added a nice element of mystery and no getting swayed by the bottle/name. However, all we drank were of different genres, so it was not quite what it could be--but thanks for the idea.

[Roy Hersh]

I love this thread ... on so many levels.

[Andy Velebil]

Thanks all, for the decanting advice (with all the little flies doing the De-Can(t)-Can(t) over our wine in a Toulose-Latrec moment)--our meeting turned out well; lots of fun with a number of wives and their girlfriends coming after their movie excursion--our meeting turned into a party of sorts.

I decanted the 2007 Taylor for 24 hours as suggested and it seemed sound. I also noted Andy V had decanted Warre's Warrior for 2-3 days in one of his TNs, I did 2 days. Still a bit wild, but porbably a v. good decanting period. You may have caught a similar thread I started on a Quinta Do Estanho bottle which oxidized and turned out like a tawny.

Derek: I did try the blind test. It added a nice element of mystery and no getting swayed by the bottle/name. However, all we drank were of different genres, so it was not quite what it could be--but thanks for the idea.

John,

thanks for letting us know how this went and I'm glad this motley crew could help. When I make it out to new jersey I'll let you know and hopefully we can get the group together so I can meet them and so we can enjoy some Port as well.