I'm still learning as it relates to decanting, and making some mistakes along the way, e.g., thinking bottles are off or cooked when actually they just need hours of decanting.

Having cut my wine teeth on young 97 Cal Cabs which didn't need much if any decanting, I've been branching into older vintages. A 62 Beychevelle was great out of the bottle, and I followed the advice of a sage poster who advised against decanting old Bordeaux for long periods.

I recently had a 1994 Sociando-Mallet, and even after 2 hours still hadn't opened. Are there general rules of thumb to follow to get the best from these wines that require decanting without decanting so long that I miss the optimal drinking time?

TIA, Frankie

In the case of the 94 Sociando-Mallet, it might have just been the wine.

So i'm taking it that you don't recommend this wine even with proper decanting. basically it just seemed dead, no nose, no fruit. It was selling for $18/750ml, so i thought i'd try it.

Sounds like the wine was slightly corked. Its not a bad wine. It is just a very stern wine that needs a lot of time in the bottle prior to consumption. At eight years, you are running the risk of the wine being closed as well.