Hi Stan, Many people serve an old wine last as the crowning moment of an extraordinary evening. But most wine pros would serve an old wine first. Older wines usually have more delicate, understated flavors. If you serve an old wine after a younger (and therefore more robust) wine, chances are it will simply end up tasting thin, weak, and uninteresting by comparison. That would be a shame. So, far from being the crescendo of an evening, an older wine should be the sensational opening act.

—Karen