Six years ago, someone gave me a gift bottle of 1994 Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (13.5% ABV), which has been quietly sitting in my collection. I decided that our 2008 New Year's Day prime rib dinner was the right meal for this wine.
I brought the bottle in from the cool storage 3-4 hours before dinner, along with two backup bottles of other wine ... just in case. I opened this bottle 1 hour before the prime rib was done. (OK, I didn't plan to open it that much in advance, but the roast took a bit longer than expected.) This gave me the opportunity to taste the wine right out of the bottle, and after it was exposed to the air for a while. I really did not detect any significant changes in the wine; it was good right away and stayed that way throughout the meal.
The wine was in beautiful shape, with deep red color and rich aromas. There was plenty of dark cherry along with some spice flavors and cedar highlights, not at all dominant, however. The wine was very smooth, with a small amount of tannin left. All in all, we were both very happy with this wine.
-- Clark