The Auswine Forum

Well my big 50 is fast approaching in November (far quicker than I'd like!) but I guess there's not much I can do to slow down time so all I can do is look forward to celebrating (or commiserating) with some birth year '66 Grange I picked up a couple of years back in readiness for the big day.
I'm unfamiliar with aged wines pre 90's and would be grateful of advice on how long this wine will benefit from decanting for on the day. I'm hoping there may be a few other 50th celebrations among the members here who may have opened the same vintage recently.
I've read a few tasting notes on the wine to understand it's gone past it's prime now but I'm still hoping it will be a memorable experience. I've got a couple of bottles, one went through the clinic in '91 and the other has never been opened but has a very reasonable looking lower mid-shoulder level.
To finish off the night, I've also got a Graham's '66 Port and again any recommendations for how this should be treated would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I reckon decanting quite soon before would do the trick. You would want to watch the wine evolve in the glass / decanter, and not potentially miss it altogether.

66 Grange is still up there in my top 10 wines ever.

I think ours was just Audozed after checking it was OK and maybe a quick double decant to remove any sediment was done.

Personally I'd be more inclined to stand upright for a couple of days, baby it to where ever you are going, make sure you have a Durand or similar (Ah-so and corkscrew in combination) and slow pour with a phone light towards the end in case of sediment. (some can throw a lot)

You guys need half-decanters. Bloody brilliant for removing sediment and restricting aeration for the old bottles. I have no idea why I've only seen them in the Czech republic only.

dave vino wrote:66 Grange is still up there in my top 10 wines ever.

I think ours was just Audozed after checking it was OK and maybe a quick double decant to remove any sediment was done.

Personally I'd be more inclined to stand upright for a couple of days, baby it to where ever you are going, make sure you have a Durand or similar (Ah-so and corkscrew in combination) and slow pour with a phone light towards the end in case of sediment. (some can throw a lot)

Largely agree with Dave although I probably wouldn't Audoze it. Get it somewhere near where you are going to be and stand it up, a cool part of the room perhaps. I would only decant prior to drinking, for sediment avoidance, then maybe back into the bottle? And a Durand is always a good insurance policy against a tricky cork.

I agree with Dave and a couple of the other posters. I find there is a massive difference between wines that have brought up from the cellar and stood upright a day or so before drinking and wines that are brought up on the day they are drunk.

The danger with old wines is they can quickly fall apart especially if decanted. I would pull the cork in the morning and taste it. If it appears closed then leave the cork out. Try a few hours later if it's still improving then continue to leave open. Only decant if the wine still appears closed. I've destroyed a few old wines by decanting what tasted superb in the bottle. Better to just use large format glasses.

Stand it up for a week or so. The longer the better in my experience.

If you double decant for sediment purposes, you'll need to wash the bottle with neutral water to clear the crusted sediment on the sides. Otherwise, when you re-pour back in the bottle this previously undisturbed crust can end up back into the wine, defeating your original ambitions for the wine.

I'm no 60's Grange expert but the ones I've had have blossomed and died in the glass relatively quickly. Can't recall vintages.

rooman wrote:The danger with old wines is they can quickly fall apart especially if decanted. I would pull the cork in the morning and taste it. If it appears closed then leave the cork out. Try a few hours later if it's still improving then continue to leave open. Only decant if the wine still appears closed. I've destroyed a few old wines by decanting what tasted superb in the bottle. Better to just use large format glasses.

JamieBahrain wrote:I'm no 60's Grange expert but the ones I've had have blossomed and died in the glass relatively quickly. Can't recall vintages.

Yes, don't decant for any length of time before drinking.

Thanks for all your great advice, I was leaning towards a conservative approach to decanting and this seems to be the consensus from your replies. I'd already planned to stand the bottle for at least a week prior opening so again appear to be on the right track there too.
Removing the original fragile cork is probably the most worry aspect for me and I had planned on taking the bottle to the Perth clinic this year so it'd be opened and freshly re-corked but managed to miss the date completely and only realised on the night of the second day I'd missed out!
I don't currently have a Durand but will try to buy one before the day, though will probably never need it again!
Would the approach be the same for the vintage Port with minimal time and decanting before drinking? I've read several times that '66 was one of the best Port vintages of the last century, so I'm looking forward to this experience greatly as well.

I´m from the same vintage and have drunk a few ´66 wines this year, although all were European.

Agree with what has been said before - the key is to stand the wines up for as long as possible at the location you are going to drink them. The only bad wine I had at a recent dinner was a 66 Mouton that had been transported twice that week and was undrinkable. Decanting is a difficult one. It can help, but the damage to the wine can also be too great - Mr Audoze never decants and is well known for munching on the sediment. I´d open the Grange at the start of the dinner, take a small pour and then just leave for a few hours until its time to drink.

We had a Port at my last birthday dinner, but it was a 67 Tawny, which is not quite the same as a 66 Vintage. This will need need a decant and the last time I had one from 66 (a few years ago now) it was still quite hard and young.

Thanks for your comments, I'll definitely be treating the Grange with a lot of restraint and had guessed the Port would not be anywhere near as fragile.
I'm not sure at this stage whether both bottles of Grange will be opened on the same night, but would be very interesting to compare the bottles.

Good advice here. Stand the bottle up for as long as possible to let sediment drop. Do not decant the wine unless you are happy to (potentially) kill it before drinking. Take the cork out. Have a whiff. Stand the bottle for a few hours or up to 24 hours without disturbing it. Pour in good light so you can stop any sediment. Let it evolve in glass rather than decanter. I think decanting is for young wines...

If you don't manage to find an ah-so or Durand and the cork starts to break apart while opening, just do your best to get most of the cork bits out and pour into a decanter just before serving through a sieve while watching via neck illumination and stop at the main sediment starting point.

Really hoping it's a good bottle! Dave Vino has raved about the 66 for years, I sadly missed that event, but have had a well cellared 1967 and it was also fantastic.

When I first saw the topic I wondered how a 50 year-old might decant wine any differently than an older or younger person.

On that note I'll take my leave or, as someone on another forum says, "I'll grab my coat"...................Mahmoud

Mahmoud Ali wrote:When I first saw the topic I wondered how a 50 year-old might decant wine any differently than an older or younger person

^^ Love that, or in my case , it would have a six and a bit in front of it!!

Very old Barolo and Barbaresco is considerably more resilient and bettered by aeration than shiraz or even great Bordeaux- audozing is almost witchcraft or superstition like.

That more don't subscribe to this theory is the amount of poorly stored and transported old Italians hitting the market these days. Looking at my tasting bench I have a 78 Produttori Pora Riserva standing up.