From Shaun Barnabas:
I recently got a bottle of the Zonneblom 1967 Cabernet. I have no idea of its cellaring history and want to know if it should be left open for a while before drinking and if so for how long?

Response:
So much depends on that cellaring history, of course.... Let’s hope it has been kindly treated – if so it should still be a very nice wine (like so many of the best examples from the good 1960s vintages). Michael Fridjhon, one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people about this sort of wine, suggests that you should decant it carefully to take it off any sediment it might have thrown, but then start drinking immediately. He thinks that (if it's in good condition) it shouldn’t fall apart quickly, but is unlikely to improve with opening. Of course, you’ll be able to monitor developments in the glass, to an extent.

Interestingly, Michael reminds us not to take the ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ part of the label too seriously – this wine is likely to have a very substantial cinsaut component (which will be responsible for much of the attractive rusticity, perhaps jamminess, of the wine). When legislation came in, in 1973, regarding the use of varietal names on labels, the minimum requirement before you could put ‘Cab’ or whatever on the label was 30 percent – suggesting that up till then this was far from always achieved, and that would have been the case with the Zonnebloem.