My FIL owned fine dining French restaurants for 50 years and amassed a collection worthy of being envied. But having come from nothing in his childhood he tended to favor deals and cheaper stuff and even though he knows and has drunk plenty of grail wines, he never feels like he should drink the good stuff. Having sold his last restaurant a few years ago, and excluding most of the wine from sale, we racked it all in his basement. I’ve spent several years twisting his arm to drink even the “middle of the road” wines like various cali cabs which are not my thing, a ‘68 taurasi—the greatest I’ve ever had, a haut brion and more that I can’t remember.
Truth be told, this bottle was trash when it came home from the restaurant 3 years ago. It has great ullage, but the cork was dry snd molded. Plastic overwhelmed the nose and even 24 hours in a decanter couldn’t make it bearable.
Don’t let this happen to you!
by jpb1732
8 Comments
24h in the decanter for such an old wine!? I wouldn’t decant any wine with auch an age. The glass is enough. But still: your point is valid
Bummer. I’ve had some 66s recently and they’ve all been great. Most recently we did a 66 Ducru-Beaucaillou for Christmas dinner that was magic with prime rib.
Oh no a wine this old should be popped and drunk as fast as possible. Could still have been dead but that decanter thrashed around the corpse.
I had that 66 CB a few years ago and sound ones are pretty solid. 1964 was also a good year for right Banks that people nowadays don’t remember or know about
Perhaps even more relevant to folks on this sub who cellar, you can’t take it with you. Yes, of course you can leave it to heirs, but maybe they’re not as passionate about wine. So I’ve taken to popping the corks more readily on wines I’ve been ‘holding.’ And TBH it’s remarkably rewarding, being able to share good wine with friends and family without it being some landmark occasion.
F
Mildly & dry is not unexpected for the age, good ullage means it didn’t lose much on evaporation.
Plastic? Did it by chance smell like old band-aids?
At this age, great wines don’t exist. Only great bottles.
At least if we are talking dry or unfortified wines.