Decant time vs re-corked bottle time for LBV's

[randomguy]

Hello,

This question is similar to my post about "wine on the decline". Anyway, I have recently been impressed with a Graham's 2000 LBV I have had for a while. At first, I thought it was very strong, dark, grapey, etc. After about 3 weeks in my wine cooler, I think it has mellowed significantly. I like it quite a bit more. I would say that the initial mouth taste has decreased, making its intake less shocking. It's smell and taste has become lighter and more jam-like. Right now, I think the changes are accelerating, possibly because the bottle is nearly empty. (This gives the aromatics more room to evaporate out). It might be taking on a honey taste.

Anyway, I have been reading quite a lot of tasting notes in LBV's recently, and many of them mention decanting. My questions are the following:

Does decanting a LBV for a few hours have the same effect as recorking the bottle and putting it back in the wine cooler for a few days?

Some differences I can see are temperature (room temp vs 50F), and the fact that when it is in the decanter open to air, oxygen can come in and aromatics can leave. Since I expect to finish a bottle over the course of a few weeks, what I would like to do is "decant" it to possibly improve the flavor, then "lock it in" by putting it in the fridge and have it last a while. Will decanting reduce the lifetime of the port?

Thanks in advance for anybody who has experience that can chime in. I would rather not go around dividing my ports up into little bottles to do the experiments.

[Al B.]

Alan,

Your post made me smile - the image of dividing your wine between lots of different empty miniature bottles of port, but I have absolutely no experience that I can offer to help you with. The only time I have ever put a half bottle of vintage port in the fridge was for a period of 3 days. Apart from this, I generally drink my way through a bottle of port over 4 days.

Sorry!

Alex

[Raj Patil]

For about a year now I've done the smaller bottle technique. i open up the 750 and immediately pour into a grolsch type bottle to the very top and close the top into the wine so no air is left in the bottle. Then into the fridge.

I continue to decant the rest via Mr. Hersh's technique of unbleached cheescloth.

Seems to work great for me, but I've only been hitting the port bottle for about 3 years.

[randomguy]

Thanks Alex and Raj.

I did a little experiment on a bottle of Krohn LBV 2001. One is the "control" bottle. I then poured a small amount into an empty 750ml bottle and set that aside for a day (with a cork in it). I also poured a small amount into a decanter/pitcher and left it open to air for ~3hrs.

The fresh, new "control" has a somewhat weak taste with a strong alcoholic aftertaste. It also smells a bit like pineapple juice. The portion in the decanter got a bit sweeter and less alcoholic with time. Even though the "mouth entry" got easier, I think overall it got a darker and stronger taste. Because it was open to air, the smell weakened, and I didn't detect much pineapple anymore. Overall, I would say that the taste improved.

The small bit that was left in a re-corked bottle tasted a bit more bitter than the control. I don't remember much else, nor do I remember if overall I liked it more or less. (I had enough wine for the day)

Anyway, I put both the control and the re-corked bottle back in the wine cooler and will revisit in a few days.

I just remembered, I also poured a bit into a wine glass and swirled it around every few minutes over about 40 min. That seemed to blow off too much alcohol and made the wine taste kind of limp (no spiciness).

Disclaimer: I am a wine tasting novice, so don't trust my tasting notes that much.

[Al B.]

Don't worry about being a "wine-tasting novice", the interesting thing is that you are experimenting to see how to treat the wine so that it tastes at its best for when you drink it.

One thing I have learnt from this forum is that there is a huge range of views on when people feel that a wine is at its peak. Some like their port poured soon (1-2 hours) after opening, some like a slightly extended time (6-12 hours) and some like a very extended time (2-3 days).

Its all down to personal preference. Once you've figured out how you prefer your wine to be treated, you can move on to a new set of experiments.

My next set of experiments will be half bottles vs full bottles.

Alex

[randomguy]

I'm continuing to notice the phenomenon where if I leave a partially consumed bottle in my wine cooler, in a few weeks the wine "turns around" and starts to taste really good. Besides the Graham's I mentioned, this also happened with a Warre's Nimrod after two weeks. There was a touch of unpleasant bitterness that went away, along with some of the alcoholic sensation. I would say it is sweeter and mellower now. Maybe the cork dried out a bit and let some air in? Anyway, it is pretty good now.

This also happened with the Jonesy Tawny after about a month. The alcohol taste decreased, and whereas before it had kind of a "white wine" smell and taste, now it is like some orange tropical fruit that I can't remember what it's called. Also very good.

Right now I'm trying to see if I can replicate this process by decanting, or leaving the bottles at room temperature.

[John Conwell]

I'm currently working through a bottle of 65 Kopke Colheita. I drank half the bottle, then went on vacation for two weeks. I finally came back to the bottle about 3 weeks after I opened it.

I actualy enjoyed the bottle more after it had been open for 3 weeks. The alcohol flavor was reduced, and the over all flavor was much more smooth.

[Roy Hersh]

Its all down to personal preference. Once you've figured out how you prefer your wine to be treated, you can move on to a new set of experiments.

Alex's view above, is some of the best advice you'll ever receive on this FORUM and it can be applied to Port, white, red or bubbly and in reality ... ANY wine. That is why I ONLY listen to my own drums when it comes to tasting Port cask samples. I don't care if my scores are higher, lower or way off from the famous guys who get the big bucks. At the end of the day, the only person's palate I have to please is my own (and occasionally my wife's! ).