Expected fill level on 1975 Gruaud-Larose

A very low neck fill is quite normal for a wine nearing 30 years old, and even a high sholder fill usually is acceptable. Very old wines can still be good with a mid shoulder fill. A low shoulder fill is very risky, but sometimes a very old wine with a low shoulder fill can still be good. Also pay attention to signs of leakage including sticky deposits on and around the capsule, etc. Sometimes a bottle stored above can leak and drip onto the bottle below, so just a wine stain on the label may or may not mean anything.

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Chis ...

Between freezing and the low fill ... You have a BIG problem. To solve this, I'd be glad to give you my address so that you can ship the bottle to me !

As mentioned earlier ... that level of fill should not be a concern if there is no other evidence of leakage.

Art Stratemeyer ============================

Cellar! Wine Software

Btw .. forgot .. here's my tasting note on this on from 1998

Gruaud Larose 75 Pale and browning but with a core of red. Fleeting nose, the expected cedar and lead pencil, but there is some fruit. Very complex and involving in the mouth, flavours of dried fruits, still plenty of tannin. Balance is pretty good. Finish is long but perhaps drying out. This was not the tannic and fruitless monster that

Cellar! Wine Software

] For those that have bottles, a question about fill levels. ] ] The bottle I ordered arrived at my home on a day where the daytime high was ] 3 degrees above freezing. The contents were not frozen solid, but rather a ] slushy consistency. I was not that troubled by this, as I suppose it beats ] getting it too hot. I put it in my basement first, which is a rather cold ] 47 degrees right now, and left it there for a couple of days to "warm up" ] slowly. After that, I moved it to my 58 degree wine cellar unit. Basically ] I tried to warm it up as slowly as it was possible for me to do. ] ] In any case, I noticed that the fill level was lower than my 5-10 year old ] bottles of Bordeaux. From reading Parker's Bordeaux book, having a somewhat ] lower fill is normal, but I'm not sure what is normal and to be expected. ] This particular one is what I'd describe as "base neck" level. There is ] wine about 3-5mm into the neck, but no further. Is this normal, or is it a ] cause for concern? ]

I agree with Art (nice to read you here again, Art!) and Cwdjrx. This fill sounds just fine, even pretty good. Odd about the slushy consistency, I've not observed any bottle to that at ~2C. Perhaps it got colder than you thought.

If it has a great provenance you should be OK, but of course it's always risky to transport a wine as old and delicate as this. Let us know how it turns out. But _do_ let it rest for a good while before trying.

-E

As others have stated, low neck is fine for a 30 year old bottle. As the '75 Gruaud would be in the old style Cordier bottle, it's even less of a concern- low neck is very good.

I too am surprised by slush , as the shipping materials usually insulate. But as long as there's no cork seepage I wouldn't worry.

Oops, in my original post, I meant to say that the daytime high for the day was 3 degrees above 0, not above freezing. Still surprised at the presence of slush in the bottle? :) As always, thanks to everyone for your advice and help.

- Chris

"Chris Sprague" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

That explains it - I remember having read that wine once froze in the cellars of Paris, it being some 10 below zero one morning. Obviously before the onset of the global warming :-) Anders