For The Love Of Port

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?

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%.

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.