What dish to serve with an old vintage grand cru?

? Before thinking about tasting a bottle of wine, it's essential to prepare it properly. First of all, what is an old vintage? We're going to determine a 20-year-old wine and more like an old vintage.

How do you prepare your bottle?

An old vintage is like a dessert recipe: it has to be prepared. There are 1,000 ways to go wrong with a wine, and it would be a shame to waste a good bottle. Whether it's a Bordeaux, a Burgundy or a Rhône Valley wine, bring your wine up from the cellar at least 24 hours before tasting. This will allow the juice to come to room temperature gently, without being rushed to avoid thermal shock. Once it has been pumped up, your bottle should be positioned upright to allow any deposits to settle to the bottom of the bottle. This will avoid a grainy mouthfeel from the very first centilitres. For purists, it is possible to decant the bottle just before serving the wine in the glasses. But be careful: it's important to use a decanter with a cork, and above all to use a narrow shape so as not to encourage too much exchange with the air. The purpose of decanting the wine just before the meal is only to make sure there are no deposits in the guests' glasses, and does not really oxygenate the wine as it is already old (although it doesn't hurt to open it a little first).
Once the bottle has been prepared, all that remains is to serve the wine with a well-chosen dish. 

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OLD-FASHIONED WINE AND FOOD PAIRING

InputIf you prefer, you can serve older vintages of white wine. In this case, you should start with tasty, creamy dishes. With old Burgundyand calf sweetbread or Saint-Jacques will be perfect. The tender flesh of these dishes will complement the roundness and delicacy of the chardonnay. If you have an old vintage of Châteauneuf-du-Pape white or Condrieunoble crustaceans such as lobster or gambas will be a perfect match. The apricot and slightly spicy notes of the wines will enhance the iodized aromas of the shellfish.

Let's move on to dishassume that older vintages prefer sauces and delicacy at spice and power. With this information in mind, it's relatively simple to work out food and wine pairings. If you have an old Bordeaux vintage, opt for red meats or roasted meats accompanied by a mushroom sauce. If you have an appellation such as Saint-Estèphe or even Pauillac which are powerful wines, can be paired with slightly spicy dishes. If you have an old Pomerol or an old Saint-Émilionroundness and velvety texture are the order of the day. 
If you decide to taste an old vintage of Burgundythe agreements will be more or less identical, even if the Pinot Noir appreciates poultrythe jokes as well as game. If we go into more detail, Burgundy's powerful appellations such as Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-Saint-Georges go well with game and meat dishes. More delicate appellations such as Chambolle-Musigny or Côte de Beaune reds prefer the delicacy of white-fleshed poultry.

We can't recommend old vintages with cheese, as it's difficult to achieve a perfect match. However, if it's important for you to serve red wine at this time of the meal, choose highly cooked or uncooked cheeses.

To finish the meal, there's nothing like a little gourmandise. Old wines from Gigondas or Châteauneuf-du-Pape in red with a strong majority of Grenache to release bitterness and chocolatey, cocoa notes. Everything you need for a chocolate wine pairing... 

? Find the best old wine and food pairings on the site. Find our mature old Bordeaux wines and 100% in stock on the site.

 

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