How and when to open a bottle of aged wine?

Imagine being the wine inside a bottle, perhaps a red wine. You have rested in the same position for 10, 15, 25, 50 years. Finally, they open the door and launch you into space! The door is the cork, and space is the decanter or the glass you have dreamed of. Not everyone is an expert in the field and doesn’t know how to behave when tasting a masterpiece that has long awaited to be savored after years and years. There are some tricks to help maintain the quality of the product, such as using a candle or a silver funnel. 

If the wine is very aged, a corkscrew with a fine spiral, usually black, should always be used. It penetrates better into the cork without forcing too much. The risk is that the cork may no longer be perfectly adhered to the walls of the neck. Gently extract the cork without making unnecessary and harmful pops. Finally, take the cork to your nose and analyze it; any oxidation, flaws, qualities, fragrances, aromatic evolutions. 

The flame of the candle is used during the pouring of the wine, letting it warm the initial part of the neck at the height of the mouth. Check for imperfections and facilitate the opening of the wine.

Often, to facilitate the transition from the reductive phase to the oxidative phase, a silver funnel is used through which the wine is poured. This way, in the end, the expressive strength of the wine will be more easily and quickly perceivable in the glass.

Gently pour the wine by letting it flow along the walls of the decanter or glass.

Do this operation before any dinner or event. 

Everything else will be done by your heart and your emotions!

We invite you to age the bottles of Amarone that we recommend below. When you decide to open them, you will know how to behave.

Fabio De Vecchi