Older Barolo service question

I will confess my ignorance up front: for my upcoming birthday, I’m planning to open a 1978 Barolo, and I have never had an older Barolo before. Any suggestions on opening, decanting, etc. would be much appreciated.

Coincidence? I very recently posted a thread a few weeks ago about gifting a 1978 Barbaresco. The thread is there if you search for it. Also, check the Chambers Street Wines webpage for their recommendations on decanting older Nebbiolo.

Others can (and no doubt will) tell you more and better, but the main thing is to stand the bottle up, ideally at least a month in advance. Old Barolo can generate very fine and very harsh tasting sediment. If it’s not allowed to settle out, it can destroy the whole experience.

Day of, you may well gently and carefully decant and some would say to then give it a good 8 hours of air or at least of slow ox. This last bit is more controversial, but the standing up business is essential.

Stand it up for a month before the planned drinking date to ensure all fine grained sediment is at the bottom. On the day or drinking, decant it 8-12 hours before serving. If you want to put it back in the bottle do thhis about an hour before serving. Older Barolo wines are incredibly strong and can handle long decants easily.

Post a note and let us know how it was.

Brodie

Chris,

My routine for old nebbiolo, and others’ recommendations are in this thread:

Cheers, and Happy Birthday!!!

Warren

Stand it up now!

for me every older bottle is unique and how I handle the service depends on what they taste and smell like when I pull the cork in the morning. stand the bottle up for at minimum 3 days to let any material in the wine settle. Open the bottle in the morning and decant it and wash and dry the bottle (if you are going to double decant).
Taste and smell a small amount to make sure there are no faults, if you are happy with the wine pour it back into the clean bottle and stand it somewhere cool until service.
Just my 2 cents

i personally like to stand them up super early, as others suggested, and just open the bottle about 6-8 hours ahead. but I also prefer to see how the wine evolves over time. If I wanted it singing right when I poured it, I’d decant it a few hours ahead. old barolo is very cool in that in tends to improve with some air time

Hmm, too late for the month in advance. I hope I haven’t ruined the experience.

Thank you everyone for the pointers.

The most important step, use a Durand! An absolute must for older Barolos. Totally agree with group, more than a week of standing up is required. My personal trick is popping the cork, decant an hour, place back into the bottle. Drink 24+ hours later.

A friend of mine opened a '67 Barolo for me back in 2007 and he said he decanted it earlier that morning and we started drinking it at 6pm. The last drop was still the best around 11pm. I’d be sure to do two things, A) stand it up at a 45 degree angle for at least 30+ days and B) decant it in the morning, tasting it then and every few hours along the path.

In a side note, earlier last year I did this with a '64 Barolo and it served the wine well.

re standing up - that is an option but what I personally prefer for older reds is to pull the cork while leaving the bottle on its side and decant without ever changing the bottles orientation from how it was resting.

I’m glad I asked. Based on what everyone has been saying, I decided not to open the wine. I will be travelling and I simply can’t do what people have recommended. Hopefully the wine and I will last another ten years until the next decade birthday.

Don’t wait the 10 years . You never know .

The best advice I’ve read comes from that dude that lives in Italy. What’s his name ? I’ve followed his procedure and it worked every time. Maybe someone here can provide the link.

In case someone can’t find the link, can you describe the procedure?

Nick,
I bet you’re talking about Bill Kiapp.

Yes Bill Klapp. Does anyone have the link to the thread ?

I’m sure someone has an archive of Bill’s collected wisdom.

x2!