Held Too Long

[Innkeeper]

Opened our last 1988 Chateau Puy Blanquet, Saint Emillion last night as a pre-Mother's Day treat for mother (Maine lingo for "wife"). Decanted it carefully as there was a gob of sediment on the bottom as expected. The wine was red (viz-a-viz brown), was barely OK, but far from good or great. Of coarse the fruit was long gone. The tannins were polished, and acid was still present. The latter methinks led to it's early demise. There must have been much more acid than tannins to begin with. The body was thin; sort of dishwater consistency. Another six months and it would have down the drain. Come to think of it, when we opened a sister bottle a few years ago, we noted and then forgot to open this one soon thereafter. Still think, all other things considered, that there is more danger in holding a wine too long, than in opening it too soon.