Let Wine Rest after Shipping?

[Nate_Simon]

@Christopher Dunn

I can see sitting a wine if there is a concern regarding sediment. As for being disturbed during shipping or in the car for 4 hours, why would that be any different from being shaken around by a vigorous decant?

Shhhh…don’t challenge the dogma!

I should add that when I go to restaurants, I often let the food rest for an hour after it’s brought to the table, to mitigate travel shock.

[Eric_Ifune]

I let them rest, but mainly because I’ve other things to drink in the meantime.

[Scott_G_r_u_n_e_r]

Only if it’s a root day.

[John_Morris]

@Mattstolz

Do you let your wines rest for a little while after receiving them before opening? Does it make a difference for a young wine or only in wines where sediment is a concern?

Here’s a thread on travel shock citing nine earlier threads on the topic. I think everything that could be said on either side, and then some, has been said.

Bottom line, many people (including many in the trade) are convinced it’s for real, and many others are sure it’s a myth.

[Jay_Miller]

@John Morris

@Mattstolz

Do you let your wines rest for a little while after receiving them before opening? Does it make a difference for a young wine or only in wines where sediment is a concern?

Here’s a thread on travel shock citing nine earlier threads on the topic. I think everything that could be said on either side, and then some, has been said.

Bottom line, many people (including many in the trade) are convinced it’s for real, and many others are sure it’s a myth.

Thank you John. This was a mitzvah on your part

[Otto_Forsberg]

I think it’s completely unscientific with no solid grounding in anything tangible.

Yet I’ve opened so many bottles right after delivery and they’ve been so very often performing very poorly, so I’ve learned not to touch any delivered bottles within a few weeks, perhaps a month. I’m the least superstitious person in my circles, but this is the one I allow myself to have.

However, Jay’s comment on drinking bottles right after bottling is a very actual thing. Many wineries bottle-age their wines 6-24 months after bottling and it isn’t just to let the wine be more aged when they hit the market. It’s also because the wines are often very awkward and disjointed for many weeks, sometimes even months after bottling. Letting them rest for at least a few months ensures the wines are at least drinkable by the time they reach the consumers.

[Anton_D]

@ky1em!ttskus

Pascal’s Wine Wager?

That was awesome, just so you know.

[Anton_D]

OK…

In general, I buy wines to lay down, so I am not very frequently Pobega-ing most bottles that arrive.

If one comes that I am excited about, like the recent pinot blanc from Vincent from Berserker day, I am happy to kill it the same night because I am excited to try it and find no big taste penalty when I have done this. (It may have had the most structure and wonderful acidity of any pinot noir I’ve had in the past 5 years!)

Older bottles getting shook up during shipment I treat as mentioned above…the sediment has been agitated, so down or up it goes for the future, near or far.

If people were really all that into travel shock phobia, they’d be dropping their BYO wines at the restaurant a week in advance so as not to bruise their delicate grape juice with the harrowing ride from cellar to the establishment’s dining table.

Perhaps we should get together and market a ‘bottle swaddle’ to cradle the wine people are bring upstairs from their cellars or taking out to dine.

[John_Morris]

@Anton D

If people were really all that into travel shock phobia, they’d be dropping their BYO wines at the restaurant a week in advance so as not to bruise their delicate grape juice with the harrowing ride from cellar to the establishment’s dining table.

You don’t do that?

[dsimmons]

I usually let red wine sit for years because I buy wines to age. In cases where i buy white wine to drink right away I have noticed no negative effect of drinking right away.

[John_Morris]

@Jay Miller

@John Morris

@Mattstolz

Do you let your wines rest for a little while after receiving them before opening? Does it make a difference for a young wine or only in wines where sediment is a concern?

Here’s a thread on travel shock citing nine earlier threads on the topic. I think everything that could be said on either side, and then some, has been said.

Bottom line, many people (including many in the trade) are convinced it’s for real, and many others are sure it’s a myth.

Thank you John. This was a mitzvah on your part

I wanted to head off repetition.

(“How’d that work out for you, John?”)

[Mattstolz]

@Eric Guido

I think that nearly everyone here has a cellar or at least the early making of one, so my thought is, why not give the wine a bit of time to rest? Just open something else for the time being.

If you believe or not in travel shock doesn’t matter. In the end, letting it rest can’t hurt the wine.

I definitely agree with you for the most part. I think we are in a (very small) segment of the population where we can be pretty sure most people have some room for a bottle to sit for a month on this site. That being said, two or three specific instances I can think of:

1. Last minute purchase for an event with a specific, upcoming date. There’s a dinner in a week and guess who the host just picked to provide the wine (they know you’re a WB’er, after all!), PS can you please make it a wine from ____ producer? thats the birthday guest’s favorite!
2. Its a gift to someone who’s not quite as much of a Berserker as we are. We want them to make sure they get the full experience of the bottle, so do you suggest they hold onto it for a couple weeks first? They’re not really known for their patience though…
3. Just got back from Burgundy! Yay travel! While you were there, you were lucky enough to grab a bottle you wanna have on the table as you recount your trip.

Anyways, that was super wordy, but I the point is there are some times when I think having some ground rules in place is good.

@Scott G r u n e r

Only if it’s a root day.

this made me chuckle.

Thanks for the feedback folks! I tend to be a hedge my bets person, so I tend to fall into the “why risk it?” category. that being said, i think there are so many things (especially with wine) done just because thats the way we’ve always done it that I would be really interested if someone ever came out with a theory on why travel shock happens. especially since things like the “mollydooker shake” exist!

[Jonathan_Loesberg]

I find it astonishing that people think they know better what I experienced than I do. It is the unfortunate consequence of being too sure of one’s principles. I do not know if what happened was travel shock. I am aware of how ungeneralizable one anecdote is. But I did experience what I experienced. Sediment did not cause the distinction.

[Doug_Hein]

@ky1em!ttskus

How long would it take for sediment so fine, it’s invisible to the to naked eye, to settle from a shaken state to a completely settled state?

We will never know, since the resultant settled sediment is invisible …

@Anton D

If people were really all that into travel shock phobia, they’d be dropping their BYO wines at the restaurant a week in advance so as not to bruise their delicate grape juice with the harrowing ride from cellar to the establishment’s dining table.

Funny story from a week ago. My two friends and I planned an overnight to Chicago (a few hours’ drive), primarily to dine at El Ideas, a Michelin Star BYOB restaurant. I volunteered to supply a significant portion of the evening’s wine, since my cellar is well-stocked. My friend picked me up in the morning, and we were happily midway there when my wife called to inform me I had forgotten my wine! Well, that sure sucked!

In Chicago, we made an emergency trip to the South Loop Binny’s and picked out some really nice wines, including a 2000 Ch. Troplong Mondot that had a fair amount of fine sediment (I pulled out my little flashlight and checked). The wine lady was helping us and was SO excited that we buying such nice wines for our dinner. I carefully carried the Troplong around the store making known my desire to keep the sediment undisturbed, which she acknowledged was a great idea.

When we got to the checkout, I was careful to handle the Troplong for the cashier so she wouldn’t turn it around and upside down every which way like they usually do, and the wine lady says, “I’ll get you a wooden case to carry it all in.” Fantastic! She goes off, grabs a crate, brings it back and stuffs it full of colored tissue paper. I consider keeping control of the Troplong, but I figure she’s aware that I’ve taken such care not to disturb the sediment that she certainly will lay it gently upright in the box.

WRONG. She grabs the bottle, pops the little protector thingy on it and plops it down firmly 180 degrees from how it had been resting in the rack. WTF?!? Oh well, c’est la vie. (I should have gone back and exchanged bottles, but didn’t think of it then.)

Anyway, it was still fantastic at dinner. A little murky, but really tasty!

[GregT]

I’ve gone to Europe with wine that we opened within 24 hours of arrival and I’ve returned and done the same thing. Included were some older wines.

Would they have been better with some time? I really don’t know because I couldn’t be in two times at the same time. Sometimes sediment does get stirred up. If I’m traveling to a dinner, I’ve decanted to remove sediment before arriving, and have dropped bottles off at a restaurant a day or several hours early for the same reason.

But sometimes you can’t do it and sometimes you don’t do it and the bottle isn’t too bad anyway. I suppose I’d prefer not to open immediately but I can’t think of a single reason backed by any science that would prevent me from doing it. It’s sort of like stepping on sidewalk cracks - you probably won’t have any problem but you just avoid those things anyway because who knows?

And as mentioned, newly bottled wine is a completely different thing. It’s usually got some fresh sulfur and should sit for a while.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Eric Guido

I think that nearly everyone here has a cellar or at least the early making of one, so my thought is, why not give the wine a bit of time to rest? Just open something else for the time being.

If you believe or not in travel shock doesn’t matter. In the end, letting it rest can’t hurt the wine.

I agree. I have plenty of wine to drink. Why take chances on new stuff. I want my wines to show well. This isn’t Gallo.

[Jay_Miller]

@John Morris

I wanted to head off repetition.

(“How’d that work out for you, John?”)

It was a valiant effort.

[Brian_S_t_o_t_t_e_r]

I usually let them rest a couple weeks. Just what I’ve gotten used to doing.

[David_Glasser]

@Jonathan Loesberg

I find it astonishing that people think they know better what I experienced than I do. It is the unfortunate consequence of being too sure of one’s principles. I do not know if what happened was travel shock. I am aware of how ungeneralizable one anecdote is. But I did experience what I experienced. Sediment did not cause the distinction.

Have you considered the possibility that your perceptions may be subject to random variability and confirmation bias? I think this travel shock effect is very difficult to prove based on individual experience without a control.

[Mark_Mason]

I have a wicker basket that I use to bring wine up from the cellar undisturbed. I thought everyone does?