Well……. It may just be superstition, but when I have a very elegant wine that’s been aged for decades, I want to be as gentle with it as possible and give it time to open up on its own. The venture is sort of barbaric in a sense and I just can’t bring myself to use it on the old gems. When we do open an older bottle, we tend to sip it and taste every half hour or so and compare our impressions. It’s all part of the experience I reckon.

For whites, honestly, I’ve just gotten to the point where I enjoy them (still not as much as a red though). It’s been a long road……. I suspect as my pallet matures more, I’ll probably do some more experiments with the venture and white wines.