Grange

Should have been. It's from a commercial cellar.

Thanks very much. One more thing: It still has to be transported to me from the cellar by post or courier. This is the hottest time of the year (in southern Australia) and I'm worried that it might be 40 C (> 100 F) during transport. Do you have an idea how much this would affect it? We usually get a few days of

20-25 C (68-77 F) in between the heat waves, so I'm thinking of getting delivery to coincide with those days.

Yes, I'm sure you'd be very helpful if you could be right there. I'll see if I can manage on my own first, though. I like to try to do things myself and I wouldn't want to trouble you. :-)

David

'84 eh? I've tasted it, but it was about 5 years ago. The host decanted it about 1 hr. before we tasted it, though it was also about #6 in the lineup, so the time was possibly extended by some, along with several other Grange (back then, the term "Hermitage" was still used), along with a dozen major northern Rhone (Syrah) wines. It scored well.

Considering the age, now, I do not quite agree with Da' Bep (that is an oddity), and would pour myself a glass, before decanting, being very careful to not get any sediment into the decanter. Over the course of about an hour, I'd sample my glass (trying to fill in the blanks, between my glass and the decanter) to monitor the development of the wine. When I thought that it was ready to go, I'd declare it so, pour the guests their wine, and either pour myself another glass, or top up the one in my hand. My guess would be about 1 hr.

Charts for decanting are gustimates, at best, and only close monitoring can determine when YOU think it's ready. Remember, this will be YOUR call, and some on the guest list might have liked it earlier, and some later. Such is the weight of the host.

Hunt

I first had Grange when an Aussie from SW University, John Findlay-Jones accompanied his wife to Baltimore as a visiting Professor---what he doled out to us, Leasingham Grange and Chamber's stickies---was so much better then the high acid plonk sent here to challenge Kendall-Jackson.

No, I didn't store it. The cellar that owned it sold it to me. This cellar sells a lot of wine - a lot of it Grange of various vintages as far as I can tell.

David

Thank you. I'll have someone with me who I believe is more experienced with aged wines than I. I'm accustomed to < $10 wines.

David

Unless you want your wine murdered by the heat, I would delay shipment until cooler weather. Heat spikes will kill a wine faster than anything.

Unless you want your wine murdered by the heat, I would delay shipment until cooler weather. Heat spikes will kill a wine faster than anything.

That's what worries me, but I'm getting conflicting information on it and I can't find much on the net about it. I guess no one is going to subject an aged red wine to hot weather if they can help it, and unless they've tried it they wouldn't know what effect it has. A few people have said that they didn't think a few days of warm weather (say, 25-30 C) would make much difference. My feeling is that they are probably right, otherwise wine would be going bad more often than I hear about. But 35-40 C is much less common and I guess more likely to ruin the wine in a short time. I'm trying to time the shipment to arrive when the forecast is for mid-20s.

David

No. Pop open and serve.

Drink immediately after opening.

More important than actual temperature is stability. Subjecting a wine to daily high temperature swings kills it. If room temp swings 20 degrees each day between day and night wine doesn't stand a chance! Thats common here in Phoenix where wine coolers, cellars or insulated closets are must for wine storage.

David, I know a number of people who can attest to the fact that 1-2 *hours* at 30 C is enough to seriously damage any wine. Aged red wine is also considered by most to be more fragile than young, tannic reds. Personally, I'd wait for temperatures in the *low* 20s before shipping any wine of value.

Mark Lipton

Thanks. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I guess it's what I needed to hear. I don't have much choice if I'm to get it for the occasion I want it for. Around mid-20s early next week is the best I can do, and I'll have to hope that the post office keeps the parcel in at least a mild place while they've got it over the weekend. The forecast for Saturday is 38 degrees.

David

Well, I received it and drank it with some family members on Friday. The cork disintegrated and the decanting was a bit of a disaster because of it, but in an informal family gathering like that it didn't really matter. The flavour was not as intense as I expected, but it was very nice and very, very smooth. We are all used to $10 wines and the others had no idea what was coming until about an hour before our evening meal. It went down pretty well with everyone.

David

David, I probably would not have consumed this wine until it had sat around house in cool area for at least 1-2 weeks.

When wine travels it is subject to bottle shock. You may not have gotten al there was out of that wine. :-(

Thnanks for the notes, David. Older corks are often difficult to deal with, but I rarely find them to have failed outright. One thing that comes as a surprise to many people is that older wines are not as intense as younger ones (or even as they were in their youth), but what they gain is additional complexity and smoothness. That's why it's useful to choose mildly flavored foods for older wines. You can never go wrong with roast chicken, for instance.

Cheers! Mark Lipton

Somebody did mention this to me earlier, but I needed it for that occasion. Upon Googling for "bottle shock" there seems to be some disagreement and scepticism about it. Here's a forum on it.

And here's one extreme example of it.

The Grange had very little sediment in it. It ran transparent red until there was hardly any of it left. Since travel shock appears to be related to sediment, I might have got away without its effects.

David

We had roasted lamb with anchovies. It was a bit too strong for the wine I guess, but I don't think anyone stopped to think how well they went together.

David

P.S. Before Friday, I'm sure none of us ever expected to hear, "Pass the Grange, please" at the dinner table. (I really said that.)