decanting Barolo

Going to a Barolo blind tasting tonight. I’m bringing a 2001 Damilano(regular bottling). How long should I decant?

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Fully mature wine, you can pop and pour for a decent expression, will show progress through the evening, the last glass will be the best but I would double decant it now, and then actually decant it about two hours prior to service. The last glass will still be the best.

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I’m glad you are decanting. Barolo sediment is super-fine and would greatly impact the wine no matter how you transport it.

I don’t have a strong opinion about when. Some here would slow-ox starting now, and double decant, maybe an hour or two before going. Others would laugh and say slow-ox does nothing for the wine.

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I opened a 1996 Fontanafredda last week. There were 3 of drinking so we decided to dump it in the decanter. I really think it helped open things up. It was already stated that the last glass will be the best and that was definitely true with our bottle. Took us about 3 hours to get through the bottle just for some temporal perspective. This is just my recent experience.

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i think about this all the time. i need to trick myself and put a glass aside and then get a second “last glass”

good to see you here.

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im in the slow ox camp. Imo the ideal way is to decant out sediment, sample it 15 min after opening, assess, and resample as you see fit. If you do this early you can put the cork back in and bring it a bit later.

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Glad I found this topic, I’m opening a Rocche dei Manzoni 2004 tomorrow for dinner and was just trying to decide on how to serve it. Thanks for the thread and info

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My work around to save the last glass for 1-3 nights is to open enough bottles to last. They should ideally have about the same drinkability appeal to make sure the consumption of one does not not exceed the other(s).

With time I have started to prefer PnP and slow consuming good Nebbiolo wines with age (when the situation allows).

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We averaged ~8 hours air for our bottles that ranged from a 1964 to 2011.

https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=47467&searchId=F04F8ABF%23selected%253DW450_1_K8a9c63a02696b151d0c76d0e883dd0ab&UISource=list

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Popped a ‘64 Franco Fiorina Barolo a few weeks ago and it started showing best after eight hours in the decanter. Insane to me that these wines evolve like that even when old.

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I have a handful of older Barolos - 96 to 01 range - I notice some superfine sediment and thought it was unusual - I have one now (I think it is an 01 Giacosa) that I have had sitting up for about a month and am hopeful that it will all settle out. Unlike Bordeaux that seems to stick to the wall of the bottle it seems like it is easy to stir this stuff up which makes me think it is not a good idea to travel with a bottle to a tasting - maybe better to double decant first. Anyhow, thanks for validating my relatively recent observation.

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You have identified the issue, and the solution, perfectly. The fine sediment in Barolo can’t be filtered out and it makes the wine taste bitter. Not every old bottle will have it, but many will, and the only reasonable course is to play it safe and do what you’re doing.

I don’t have one and haven’t used one, but I think those wine basket things might work too, especially if you didn’t have the advance planning to stand the bottle up for awhile (I doubt it needs months, but I think maybe a week would be safe).

Now, the other issue is aeration. There are opinions all over the place about the aerating of wines, but I think most people find that Barolo and Barbaresco benefit from aeration in one form or another (decanter, slow ox, and/or letting it develop in the glass).

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100% agree with Chris.

I’d check with the restaurant and double decant all old nebbs before any sort of travel.

Also I can confirm that 20+ year old Giacosa throws fine sediment.

If the restaurant says no, bring something else!

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From my limited experience what Chris said above with the post he responded to is very helpful and on point.

Recently had an experience where the host was serving a 2004 Fontanafredda Barolo. You could see a lot of cloudy fine sediment, the wine was good, but I am thinking a more careful handling of the double decant would have allowed the wine to show better.

This why I love the Berserkers board, I’ve picked up on the issue of fine sediment from old Barolo and took it seriously on the few 20-ish year old bottles opened so far. That fine sediment is to be avoided. Will continue to be careful opening and decanting these going forward.

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