The Auswine Forum

Pls see below my TN on Wolf Blass YL Shiraz 2007. The wine seems to be 2 completely differerent wines between the 1st day & the 2 nd. My question is how will I generally tell when/ how long to breath a wine before it reached its peak after open ? It seems it is not a solution to buying 2 bottles of @ & test the 1st bottle, is there other rule of thumb that can help?
Tks

""1st day comment:
For the smell, there is sort of spice + oak & upon swirl, more fruit plum is noted.
Palate: seems the little bitter oaky taste is seperated from the wine, a bit of alcoholic "Hot" also.
Aftertaste: a bit of bitter together with the hotness of alcohol, as said the oak seems cannot intgrated into the wine. The wine is not smooth . Maybe cellering for 1-2 more years could help.

Drank 1/3 1st day, put back the cap.
I remembered it took 3 hours to finish that 1/ 3 bottle & not much change/ difference the 1st day.

2nd day comment
The next day the wine "opened" up & seems completely different from yesterday's wine. No more oaky smell/taste. The distinct Oaky smell gone & much more fragrant as well.
Smell:Subtle oak, Plub & sweetnesss. Upon swirl, a lot of fruity plum smell, trace of vanilla, =jou can say from swirl it is another wine; much much more fruity & no oak.
Palate: A little of sweetness towards mid-palate some balanced oak & still a bit of alcohotic hot though much weaker than the 1st day, towards the end a slight acidic feel comes back - not sour tough- acceptable . => smoother & a bit acid as general palate comment.
Aftertaste: short
A completely different wine after the 2nd day with just screwed back & left on desk. (a/C on)
Conclusion: this wine needs to breath A LONG TIME. BEST time to dry at least 24 hours after open cap !!!!!!
ok yummy. Neutral - ok to drink but not impressive still .
If there is a score, I rate it 81/100. (assuming drankable start at 80). ""

Yes, this is why we cellar wine as it changes and usually gets better over time. You could open wines, decant them and drink them two to 24 hours after opening or you could cellar them to acheive a much better effect.

It's impossible to make generalisations as each wine and style will cellar differently but there is often some guidance on the bottle. This is also why it's usually best to buy anywhere between 3 and 12 bottles of the same wine so you can open them at varying intervals to track their progress. The more you buy and tast, the more your judgement and knowledge will increase so you will be able to make better calls on how long any particular wine should be cellared so that it suits your tastes once opened.

You were brave to take on the yellow label shiraz, bravo sir

In answer to your question, like most things to do with wine - "it depends". For young wines, generally speaking they improve after at least 1-2 hours in a decanter.

In answer to your original question "when is the best time to taste wine after opening", the first answer is "immediately". I'm not being flippant - this is a good time to check for faults (e.g. cort taint, reduction, oxidation), and thne decision to open something else can be made here also.

For unwooded whites, they are generally OK straight out of the bottle. For a seriously good oaked chardonnay, time out of the fridge is a good idea (you miss out on a lot of the nose and flavour of this wine if it is too cold), and an hour in a decanter could be a really good move.

For reds, even young reds benefit from decanting immediately before pouring, whereas bigger, older, reds positively demand some air-time. How much air time to give, however, is where this becomes even more subjective. There is a balance here - younger wines (i.e. 5-8 years) might go well overnight, whereas older than this, the flower blossoms more quickly and needs closer monitoring.

Good luck!