Hey y'all, looking for a quick sanity check for decanting the bottles I'm opening tonight with a couple friends. Have 2 bottles of Dunn Howell Mountain for 2014 and 2004. I've been wanting to try Dunn for a while now and won an auction for the 2004, then grabbed the 2014 later for a fun comparison. And I've had my eye on Pax for a while too and got some of the most recent vintage to put away, and wanted to try something young but with a little more time in bottle.
I'm thinking of decanting the 2014 first for 4-6 hours and rebottling, then about an hour or two before friends arrive, opening the 2004. Thinking we'll drink the 2004 first with some side by side of the 2014 and then drink the Pax later on. Let me know if this makes sense, the 2004 is the oldest I've owned so want to try to give it its best showing. I stood both bottles up last night to let the sediment settle.
I'll be sure to circle back later tonight or tomorrow and throw some tasting notes. Excited for this.
by JT1989
9 Comments
I think your plan sounds pretty good. I don’t know how long the gathering will last but it can be fun to taste wines right when they open and check in with them after 30 minutes then an hour. Yesterday I did a tasting where a couple wines only needed 30 minutes to start showing beautifully.
I’d decant the 2014 for 4-6 hours as you said, but also decant the 2004 for an hour or so. CellarTracker recommends the same for this vintage
https://www.cellartracker.com/w?224195
I don’t think this is a bad plan at all but encourage you to approach decanting from a different angle; no two bottles or palates are exactly alike, and it’s better to evaluate the timeframe for decanting *by assessing the bottle* rather than deciding the timing beforehand. Of course, if you feel like a certain bottle will need a lot of time, then open it around the time you were originally thinking of decanting.
A quick decant if there’s a lot of sediment, but then immediately sample about an ounce of the wine. If the wine is closed or otherwise not really showing much, then by all means continue to decant – although I would give it a swirl and sniff in the decanter every hour or so.
If the wine is expressive and gorgeous right away, I would highly consider funneling back into the bottle, putting the cork in, and just waiting instead.
TLDR, see how the wine is showing, *then* decide on decanting time based on that. Plus that way you eliminate the stress of deciding the timing. Just trust your palate!
PS. Even though syrah is often served after Cab, that Pax is a very light, very bright rendition of syrah. Give it a sample early on also and you’ll see that it could easily be served beforehand. That would be my choice in this instance but either order could work. It’ll just be very, very aggressively savory and funky after the Dunn and it’ll be more difficult for the fruit to emerge.
That Sonoma hillside label is amazing hahaha
4-6 hours for both bottles of Dunn, 1-2 for the syrah. Don’t sweat it, it’ll be great.
Maybe I’m in minority but I feel like I’ve only had one aged wine that dropped off a hill on having been opened to breath.
Might just be my palette but I feel no matter the age time and decant always improves. That includes recorking half a bottle and putting it in the fridge for 1-2 days.
Sounds good. I’d be curious to hear how ready the 2014 was after that decant, and how the 2004 is after 22 years. My experience with Dunn HM is they need a lot longer than you would think. I wouldn’t be surprised if that 2004 was still youthful
Crazy coincidence.. I’m too trying to decide how long I should decant Dunn HM 15 and also considering swapping for some Pax SH.
It depends what your goal is. If you want to compare the wines (even though they are different vintages and different cuvees), I’d decant them both for the same amount of time.