wine selecting

sometimes I select the wine for a special occasion way in advance, many months or even sometimes years. However, on a normal day I often select the bottle that I will be opening, just a few hours before, sometimes less.

How long before you open a wine do you determine that you will open that specific bottle? Do you have it planned the night before, week before, year before, 15 minutes before? And now looking back do you think that the amount of time you are aware you will be opening it has any influence on your tasting experience?

The only times it would be more than a week in advance for me would be:

  • attending an offline
  • xmas meal

That said, there are some bottles that I absolutely intend to drink with specific friends, e.g. a burgphile or the person that brought a bottle back from Portugal for me, and who is interested in what it’s like.

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Count me in the “dinner’s almost ready, what should we drink?” camp. Once in a while, especially with younger wines, I choose and open them a few hours in advance to get some air in them. I wish I did that more often, but such is life.

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For a normal night at home, Jonathan and I discuss in the AM what we plan to have for dinner that night and usually decide on a wine at the same time. That way we can make sure the bottle is at the very least at temp and can decant ahead if we think it’s necessary.

For entertaining or dinner parties, we generally choose wine a week to a month in advance depending on the menu and wine parameters. For instance, if we’re roasting a baby goat, which we do a few times a year, that’s going to call for Piedmont, which we prefer to stand up weeks in advance. If it’s a pizza party, no need to prep until the day of. We usually start the discussion of which wines to pull as soon as we know roughly what the menu is going to be.

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Most of the time its around the time I decide what I’m making for dinner. Sometimes I will plan a more involved weekend meal and try to come up with a good pairing in days in advance. Definitely have bottles that I ear mark for drinking with certain situations, people, or groups though.

The more interesting question to me is the expectations. I do not think it necessarily makes me like it more, but I would say it makes my reaction more extreme either way. I am a little more happy with the wine if it works reasonably well as a pairing, people I think will like it, do, etc. OTOH, I am probably more disappointed if the wine does not show well or does not have the characteristics I was expecting.

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Warning: thread drift.
I love this. When I was a kid in Western Africa, méchoui of baby goats and old sheep (mutton) were commonplace. My dad would baste the baby goat with whiskey throughout the process. Ever since then, I’ve been a sucker for baby goats (alive and dead). I had found a farm around here that would provide me with some every spring for a number of years. Unfortunately, the owner passed away and his wife couldn’t handle everything on her own. The kids didn’t want to take over. I debated buying the farm but my wife at the time (now ex) was not on-board. Since then, I haven’t done a roasted baby goat and I grieve. We’ve since replaced it with roasted cochon de lait which also has merits.

Note: written while on Fentanyl so I hope it makes sense.

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Warning: even more thread drift–where in West Africa? The only place in West Africa I’ve visited is Sierra Leone.

Back on track, I’ve been thinking about this since my initial response. In concept, I love the way Sarah described knowing what’s for dinner and choosing the wine in the morning so that preparation, if any, can be done. I went through a brief period of time where I did that, but for some reason it seemed like a burden, but it also means that I don’t always drink wines (at least the first glass) in optimal conditions. Whites are sometimes too warm, reds and whites haven’t had enough air, or, as a result of the pressure to get some d@mn wine poured so we can eat I make a selection that is less thoughtful than it otherwise could be. I am going to use this thread as encouragement to try to be more thoughtful moving forward and try again :slight_smile:

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I will stand up about a months worth of wines at a time, various styles and price points. From there it is a game time decision, but from that preselected inventory that is stood up and at cellar (or wine fridge) temp.

As far as expectations, this approach helps because I can choose between “special” and “ordinary” bottles from the pre-selected group. So if I’m not prepared for a pricey bottle to show poorly, I just pull something lower risk. This actually helps me enjoy special/older bottles more frequently, since before this, as a game time decision maker, I kept postponing special bottles because I wouldn’t have enough time to stand them up.

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I tend to keep the fridge stocked with 1 bottle of bubbles, 1 light bodied white, 1 medium - full bodied wine. That can cover most dishes we will choose that calls for a white wine. For the reds I’ve got two small closets with a range of 50-ish red wines ranging from light to full bodied. At least 12 of them are at a 45 degree angle to allow the sediment to settle in one third of the punt at the bottles edge. Allowing for a full range of wines from old to young light to full bodied. The only wine I don’t tend to keep ready is port. Those are all too young, and waiting for another 20+ years sideways. I just don’t drink that much port. Sherry, Madeira, and Sauternes cover the need for sweets most of the time.

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Mostly this, but like many here I’ll sometimes plan specific bottles for certain company or special occasions.

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I’m a mixture, but more often it’s a last-minute decision. Which in turn leads me to favor wines that don’t need a lot of fuss, extended aeration, standing up for sediment. Brunello rather than Barolo, for example.

One thing I’ve started doing, which helps some, is intermittently culling a mixed dozen or two “should drink soon” bottles out of storage and leaving them upright in case boxes, so when I’m in my “dinner will be ready in 15 minutes and I can only pull away for a minute or two to select the wine to go with it” mode, I can run to those boxes and often find something, without having to get on CT and explore around for possibilities. Plus, the wines have been stood up in case they have sediment issues.

That doesn’t end up working all the time, but it’s a step in the right direction.

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I’ll be in Philly in four weeks. Please commence sourcing the baby goat and submit a list of wines. No need to open it three days in advance

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My storage is offsite, 20 minutes away, so I just keep an assortment of maybe 50 bottles in the house, a few standing for sediment purposes. That is the extent of my planning, and I just choose a bottle once we plan what’s for dinner. This is almost never done over breakfast like the Kirschbaum household.

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LOL. We’ll still be on keto then, but otherwise this would be the beginning of a plan!

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My wife would be laughing her bleep off if she saw this thread. It takes me days to figure out what to open for a special occasion, changing my mind multiple times. Regular dinner… probably 30 minutes :wink:

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Whenever I find “chevreau du printemps” once again, I will use your killer sentence: “I shall now commence sourcing the baby goat”. I just think it sounds important and adventurous. Thank you sir.

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It has been a similar problem here. I am working out a new plan to minimize that time spent and then I started thinking about how much the anticipation has actually been a factor in the wine tasting experience.

lol just kidding. I am actually heading to Palm Beach Gardens for my annual Cherry Hill friends weekend. Glad to get back after last two were canceled

Too bad! A few glasses would have been fun.

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Usually the day of, apart from the celebrations and in the summer Friday lunches when a group of friends get together.

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