Thinking of trying a bottle of the 2015 Nervi Gattinara tomorrow for dinner and, having never had it before, was wondering if I should (a) pop and pour (b) drink after short decant (c) one day after opening or (d) forget about even trying.
Have had pretty mixed experiences with young nebbiolo and air, and wanted to be fair to this bottle! Thanks.
It is quite soft, open and friendly. Crack it 2 hours prior, double decant and slow ox or leave in decanter. Don’t think that you can go too far wrong with this one!
Either d or b, in that order. Young Nebbiolo tends to need some air, but often one hour in a decanter or two hours after double-decanting back into a bottle is enough.
Seeing how Nervi wines normally take 20-25 years to reach their peak and the best vintages even +50, the idea of drinking a young Nervi always feels a bit sad.
Contrary opinion here - I am in the camp of not decanting young nebbiolo unless I have experience with the exact wine. Too often, I find, decanting or even a long time in the glass makes the youngsters shut down hard. My approach is pretty much pop and pour the first time, and then adjust on future bottles based on how the behaves.
I follow Sarah’s approach. When we were in Alba and ordered young Nebbiolo at a restaurant, they never decanted. Since we were neophytes and typically decanted other wines, the waiter was surprised when we asked for a decanter and we had to argue and insist the first time. While it didn’t shut down hard, it was certainly tightening up by the end of the meal and I swear the waiter was enjoying being right. We had better experiences with pop and pour after that. ymmv.
Had it straight from the bottle a year ago, and it was reasonably approachable. I was going to suggest a couple of hours, but on reflection I think Sarah is right.
+1.
I stopped decanting young wines a long time ago, and not just Nebbiolo.
Thanks! In light of the many suggestions I’ll try to control myself and drink it over a long interval and see what happens… 
Had a bottle of this last night. Decanted and drank over a couple hours, and it drank beautifully. It was softer and more approachable than a Barbaresco of the same age, and didn’t clam up at all.
Like to agree, Sarah, because --one never knows unless one has prior experience with it.
Oh, forgot to report on my findings! It was a few weeks ago now so a bit hazy, but the nose was definitely the most interesting, ethereal almost, within the first hour or two of opening. Palate was pretty expressive throughout, but very primary of course. The restaurant had a Gattinara from the early 2000’s available by the glass which was the exact opposite. Really makes me wonder what the chemistry is…
Haven’t had this since release - until this week, with two in Rome (€33 @ enoteca), both showed well at the 90 minutes open mark (no additional aeration). I picked up two more that no doubt will show greater complexity in time, though there’s an understated elegance that’s easily appreciated now, too.
Any wine from the early 2000s by the glass is a bit of a crap shoot. It could be DOA from too much air, even if the use some kind of preservation system.
Drank another one of these in Florence tonight; intentionally opened last night, and re-corked after 2 hours to be enjoyed tonight, which it was.
Insofar as I thought this might have enough air to show a few more secrets, it wasn’t until the 2nd hour after 24 hours open that the voice became lovely, and to a good degree, clear and interesting.
I saved one glass for tomorrow night, and will report if there is something worth sharing.
I know these can have a long life. But how long do you usually cellar Gattinara? I imagine similar apogee as Barbaresco.