1980 Warre's Vintage Port -- two weeks later

John Danza · Post by **John Danza** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:11 pm

Hello all,

I decanted a 1980 Warre two weeks ago to serve after dinner with some folks that were over. For a variety of reasons, the port didn't get served and I forgot about it. Well, I ran into the decanter today and gave it a try. I was really surprised that the wine was very nice. The flavor was primarily red berries. The tannins were just about gone and the wine kind of one dimensional. However, it was a pleasant drink and I had a couple of glasses.

Has anyone else had good experiences with VP in the decanter for a couple of weeks?

All the best,
John

Jay Powers · Post by **Jay Powers** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:24 pm

No such experience with a VP for me, but I had an experience with a 1966 Colheita which ended up with the wine being better at 2 weeks than at any earlier time.

Jay

Todd Pettinger · Post by **Todd Pettinger** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:58 pm

John,

Opening a VP for me is now such an event (due to price and finding a port old enough to open at a relatively proper age) that there just is no way I could run into this scenario.

I'm glad to hear though that your experience was as positive as it could be, given the circumstances!

Todd

Tom Archer · Post by **Tom Archer** » Mon May 14, 2007 2:54 am

This subject deserves some proper study -

The collective experience of contributors to this site has exposed a few myths:

1) Decanting times should generally be much longer than those advised in published works.

2) The survival time of wine in decanter is vastly greater than that advised in said works, provided it is kept at cellar temperature.

3) Filtered wines DO gain some benefit from cellaring (especially 10yr Tawnies).

Now, who might give me a grant to set up a research facility?

Tom

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Mon May 14, 2007 1:19 pm

John,

You left this for 2 weeks

Were taking away your Port drinking license for "Port abuse"

Seriously though, I've never had the misfortune to leave a VP in decanter for that long. Had plenty of aged tawny's or rubies last that long opened in bottle and kept in the fridge, but no VP.

John Danza · Post by **John Danza** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:24 pm

Andy V. wrote:John,

You left this for 2 weeks Were taking away your Port drinking license for "Port abuse"

I was concerned about admitting this, because I thought I might get drummed out of the group.

Actually, the couple of weeks actually helped this wine out. It wasn't that great the first day. Out of three bottles I bought, two of them ended up being mediocre. This one actually is better now. I'm sure it won't make the end of the week (I'm traveling right now, so I can't have any for a few days).

All the best,
John

Post by **Roy Hersh** » Thu May 17, 2007 7:07 am

I had this bottling yesterday and it is up there with some of the best of the 1980 VPs. It was just splash decanted a couple of hours before our tasting and poured back into the bottle. What a truly enjoyable wine and we all agreed it kicked ass of the 1970 Warre. The 1991 was also great as were the more recent 2003 and 2004 Cavadinha which is still a rock star.

John Danza · Post by **John Danza** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:55 am

Roy Hersh wrote:I had this bottling yesterday and it is up there with some of the best of the 1980 VPs.

It's interesting that both you and Andy reported great results with this wine. All three bottles I bought were in excellent condition, with nice tight corks. The color was good as well. It's just that the taste was not there for me. I have to assume that the bottles were not in too great of a condition even though they certainly appeared to be outwardly.

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Thu May 17, 2007 9:13 am

John,
It is a shame your bottles didn't show that well. I must admit to being surprised by it myself, as it is not one you hear about often

John Danza · Post by **John Danza** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:26 pm

I finished off the last of the decanter tonight, a full three weeks after the initial opening. The wine was still drinking fabulously. I think it surely would have lasted another week or two.

This has been a good experiment for me. While a decanter of VP usually doesn't last more than an evening, I've always been concerned about leaving it more than a week because of fear of it breaking down. I no longer have that concern. That means I'll be able to open a magnum when there aren't enough folks likely to finish it off in an evening and I'll know it'll be in good shape a week or two down the line, depending on vintage. I wouldn't expect a 1927 to last that long, but then again, I'm not going anywhere until one of those is finished!

All the best,
John

Todd Pettinger · Post by **Todd Pettinger** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:20 pm

John Danza wrote: That means I'll be able to open a magnum when there aren't enough folks likely to finish it off in an evening

I'm not sure I understand this John...

you're telling me you won't finish a magnum by yourself in one night???

John Danza wrote: I wouldn't expect a 1927 to last that long, but then again, I'm not going anywhere until one of those is finished!

I am glad that you threw this in. Redemption!

Todd

Al B. · Post by **Al B.** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:56 am

John

I do recall in the early days of the forum that someone else had a similar thing happen to them - they decanted a VP, forgot about it and "found" it again a month or so later. My memory is that they also found the wine perfectly drinkable when they returned to it.

Once or perhaps twice a year I will decant a VP and not have chance to finish it before having to travel away for business. I can frequently be away for a couple of weeks and so end up looking at the contents of my decanter about 3 weeks after first opening the bottle. While the VP does not taste as fresh or fruity to my tastes when drunk after 3 weeks in a decanter, I certainly don't flush it down the sink and look for something else.