When To Open A Bottle Of Wine?

When to open a bottle of wine? The 2000 Chateau d'Aurilhac had good fruit, but lots of tannin. It had been resting in a temperature controlled unit, and we didn't think it would have much tannin, so we just pulled it off the shelf and opened it for dinner. Wrong! Either the wine was in that adolescent stage where it is transitioning from the "baby fat" and huge fruit of a very young wine to a more mature style where the structure becomes more prominent or it had already laid down some sediment which got stirred up. Fine wine lays down sediment and if you've stored it on it's side, it will make the wine cloudy and tannic when it goes from horizontal to wertical. That's why it's a good idea to stand it up for at least a few hours and preferably a few days before opening.