Article in today's NY Times about Brunello di Montalcino and Franco Bondi Santi.

Isn't he a friend of Dean's?

Never met him. I believe Diva has had lunch with him.

Dean, I have a question for you.
What do people do (this would not be me) who want to drink a great old brunello with a restaurant meal? I found when I served one here at home that it needed to be opened 12 hours in advance to really show itself.
I tasted sips continually from 2 hours on and it was nothing special until the 12 hours were up.

We ahve pre decanted bottles for cuistomers on occasion. If I know them I do it on the honor system or if not, with a credit card number.

The issue is decanting vs just opeining. The wine needs to open up or get oxygen. If you decant the wine it will get a lot more oxygen than if you just open it and let it sit. I prefer to decant an hour before drinking a big wine and then swirl a lot to ge t the wine to open.