Tasting tips
How to have a great trip back into time.
Is your bottle ready to be drunk? Here are a few guidelines to help you capture every nuance this vintage has to offer, everything that's been waiting for 20, 30, maybe even 50 years to be released.
As we said earlier, put your bottle in a vertical position for a few days before opening it, to allow the suspended particles to settle at the bottom of the bottle.
Then take the bottle out of its storage place. It should be opened at least four hours before drinking.
Cut the foil, as with any bottle, and clean the neck with a dry cloth.
Over the years, the cork has probably deteriorated, especially the bottom part that has been in contact with the wine. Thus you must proceed slowly and delicately while pulling the cork.
If some bits of cork stick to the inside of the neck or fall into the wine, recover them using the cloth, or in the case of fallen particles, a long narrow spoon handle will do nicely.
Once the bottle is uncorked, take a whiff from time to time. When you like its bouquet it is ready to drink. If you want, you can temporarily re-close the bottle with a dry cork. If, on the other hand, the bouquet seems unpleasant, not to worry. After all those years in the bottle, the wine just needs a little more time to open up.
Should the wine be decanted?
With the very old vintages (more than 40 years) you should be very careful. The structure and the aromas of these wines are very fragile.
Our recommendation : Go slowly, step by step. Let the wine breathe in the bottle, pour one glass and take some time to taste it.
Most of the time you'll see that decanting is not necessary.
Now you are ready to drink your wine and savor its magic.
A SoDivin recommendation : often, people drink red wines too warm and white wines too cool.
We advise drinking red wines at 16°C (60°F), while whites, dessert wines and sparkling wines should be refrigerated at about 6°C (43°F) and taken out about a half hour before serving.
