Decanting an Old Bordeaux Wine Video Transcript
Written By: Anonymous on Sat, Oct 13th 2007
Brian Freedman:Welcome to the Classic Wines Minutes brought to you by ClassicWines.com; I am your host Brian Freedman.
Today we're tasting Old Bordeaux or at least kind of Old Bordeaux. We have the 1995 Chateau Simard Saint-Emilion which is on the right side of the river in Bordeaux. 95 was a great year for Saint-Emilion for Pomerol, and this bottle is less than 30 bucks. So, if you can find it, get a couple of them, because it's not that common to be able to find, such a great wine from a great vintage at such a great price.
So, without any further ado let's just pour this right from the bottle into the glass here. I hope you can pick this up on camera. You'll notice that the color is a bit different from most of the younger wines that the majority of us drink everyday, or three or four times a day. It's not blue or purple or inky like a lot of them are. It's more brick tone, there's more brown, there more orange in the color. This is typical of a wine with a bit of bottle age. Smell it.
Now, this is very typical of a bottle that's old, I am not getting a lot of fruit on the nose, there's more in the way of mushroom, damp, underbrush. There's a really strong character of like dried flower petals in there, almost like dried roses, but I am not getting a whole lot of fruit. I am not concerned about that. Let's see what it tastes like.
Now, it's on a palate that the red berry fruit really comes out. There's more acid there which keep it livelier, fresher. It's actually a very pleasant wine but I will tell you, it's still fairly closed, not surprising seeing as it's a 12-year-old bottle of wine.
So, see we have assortment of high end decanters here on the side. We have the Classics from Riedel, from Knuffman (ph), from other producers, and we also have this one from Taste of Purple, probably a bit different from what you used to see. I like this one especially because when it comes to having to clean them, you can actually get your hands in there and dry it out which is really a benefit.
So, let's get this some air. Now, when we're decanting a wine like this, you can see here the wine is really spreading out there. So, we're increasing the surface area of the wine that's in contact with the oxygen. This is a good thing. It should open it up, it should give it a bit more finesse, a bit more softness, alright. So, let's really get some air in there. I love this handle on the bottom because it does make it easier to swirl it around. Just pour it right down the pour spout here. Believe it or not decanting a wine like this Chateau Simard for that little amount of time should actually have a noticeable impact. So, let's see.
Well, again the nose is much more like Café Mocha chocolate, the berries are a bit riper. It's an old bottle of wine but it's just more friendly. So, let's see how it tastes.
I didn't swallow, I mean I didn't spit it, I am in denial clearly. You know what, the wine really is -- it's more open net, it's more friendly, it's more approachable. Frankly, I feel like the wine is really now strutting its stuff like I wanted it to.
With older wines like this, decant it, this is the way to go, don't be afraid of doing that. Either way, enhance your enjoyment of the wine, don't be afraid to drink older ones, they're not so expensive and they're not all for old British guys. It's okay to enjoy your Old Bordeaux.
Thank to Taste of Purple for helping us out with the decanters today. From all us here at ClassicWines.com I am Brian Freedman. Cheers.
