2008 Château Pontet-Canet

Community Tasting Note

10 comments have been posted

• Comment posted by Mark1npt:

  9/14/2023 8:59:00 PM - Thank you but oh so funny! 3 years ago this one was a pnp.....will def try your advice with the next bottle.

• Comment posted by Decanting Queen:

  9/15/2023 3:37:00 AM - 5-6 hours sounds about right to me! Thanks for the note.

• Comment posted by kelvinkyng:

  9/15/2023 9:13:00 PM - thanks for your comment. re breathing, it's intriguing to me. i had a bottle 18 months ago, 2 hour decant was good enough. but recently i tried 3 bottles and found out 5 hours was needed. i'm new to this wine appreciation thing. i think a guideline to how much time is required to air each wine would be helpful. (if there is one, pls let me know)

• Comment posted by Mark1npt:

  9/16/2023 4:54:00 AM - Kelvin, it would be a great thing and benefit us all, if there were such a guide, but there isn't. The problem being that these bottles of wine are living breathing creatures that grow and change just as our children do every year. What works for them breathing one year, won't often work the next. I check in here all time to see how much air is needed for the wine I want to open that night. Many times there's no direction, so it can amount to a bit of a guessing game and requires a little experimentation. Cheers!

• Comment posted by kelvinkyng:

  9/18/2023 2:45:00 AM - Mark, thanks for enlightening me. bordeaux red is indeed complex, and frankly quite complicated to handle, esp. risk of bad corked issue with old vintage, as well as articulating its breathing time needed to fit into dinner time. quite stressful lol. so i kind of prefer the younger vintages.
  would you have a young bordeaux favourite to recommend? fyi i recently tried a Durfort Vivens 18, needed 5 hrs air time, exceptional.

• Comment posted by Mark1npt:

  9/18/2023 6:46:00 AM - Kelvin.....I also like to try some of my Bdx wines when young and my good friend Decanting Queen sheds a little tear, every time I do! The problem with the young ones is they can change FAST! Sometimes it only takes a couple of months for them to shut down unexpectedly without warning. The older Bdx tend to be more stable (except for the corked ones!) though I do think they go through many 'phases' during their lifespans and you can miss their good times, too. That's why I always check in here to see how they're currently drinking before I pop one open. If I don't see some decant info from the last person who opened one, I will frequently post a comment to them and ask them if they decanted and for how long. If I want a Bdx, I will decant it at noon for dinner and then follow it as it opens all through the afternoon. Sometimes it moves faster and we eat dinner by 4pm. Sometimes it takes longer and we eat at 7pm. Just depends.
  
  ps.....I don't have many new 'young' Bdx to push as I'm getting older and only have one now a '20 Poesia I'm going to be trying soon.

• Comment posted by Decanting Queen:

  9/18/2023 9:10:00 PM - Mark I have shed buckets of tears for those baby bordeaux you have had…. But at least you enjoy them. What kills me is when people open them way too young and then claim it is a horrible wine!!

• Comment posted by Mark1npt:

  9/18/2023 10:03:00 PM - Yes, I know those kinds of comments about young Bdx can break your heart, but I find them kind of hilarious cuz I've been there and done that 15-20 years ago! Youth can lead to a ton of mistakes......

• Comment posted by kelvinkyng:

  9/19/2023 1:23:00 AM - interesting to see your comment on young Bordeaux.
  i ain't an experienced drinker like you guys, but i find the quality in recent vintages (say 15-19) quite remarkable, and priced lower. and if breathing them longer could bring out their inherent attributes, i think people should try them young as well (and be happy with them! this i cannot agree more)
  having said that, i still have a long way to go in this wine journey. maybe one day i would only prefer older vintages. thanks for your insight.

• Comment posted by Mark1npt:

  9/19/2023 8:56:00 AM - Kelvin, I also like those vintages from '15-'19 and have sampled all of my young Bdx in those years (and the DQ still weeps). Nothing wrong with that at all, so long as they get the right amount of air, and you don't happen to open one when it's in a very bad phase, because no amount of air can make it perform well, then. I always check in here on CT to see if what I want to open is drinking well at the time, if not, I don't open it and switch to another bottle instead. Have fun along your wine journey as that's what it's all about! We are all different. Drink what you like when you like. I've even opened a Cabernet with lobster before!...Cheers!