Question about Turning Wine in a Cellar

Wine laying down in my cellar is rarely disturbed. Someone acquainted to the wine business said I should be turning my bottles.

Does anyone here actually turn bottles anymore that are in long term cellaring? Granted sometimes the sediment is collected on one side of my bottles after a number of years but that never seemed to bother me or the taste of the wine.

Please advise.

Reply to
dick
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Total rubbish, another urban legend that seems to be unable to die.

Nobody. Nor in short term cellaring, btw.

Sediment tastes bitter, and having it collected always on the same place, i.e. on the opposite side of the label, just proves how ridiculous the story of "turning bottles" is.

M.

Reply to
Michael Pronay

No - that's nonsense! The chap is probably thinking of riddling, used in Champagne to gradually move the sediment down to the neck where it can be removed.

For still wines in the cellar, you WANT them to stay in one position so the sediment stays in the bottle when you decant it.

God help me, but I sometimes think that half the wine world must be neurotically staying up all night trying to find new things to fuss about.

If it isn't something like this, it is concern that the megabuck cellar systems and instrumentation reveal a 1% variation in humidity (or temp, or heaven knows what), or wondering if moronic magnetic devices might work, or dismayed that RP or some other wine prophet has reduced the score on a prized wine by one point.

The latest was, as I recall, another non-event - the recorking of all of your bottles every decade, lest they suddenly and incontinently spew their contents on the cellar floor, or admit some nefarious element to the unsuspecting wine.

'Struth - there must be one born every minute........

Reply to
Bill Spohn

Exactly what I thought. Thanks.

Was amazed cause suddenly I had some doubt.

Appreciate your comments.

Reply to
dick

Just two peripheral thoughts. I always store wine with label on top a) I can see what it is b) if the label becomes detached, it may not falloff c) if you are pouring the wine off the sediment into someone's glass, you can do this and they can see the label.

Am I alone in believing it is correct that when pouring wine, the recipient should be able to see the label? The end of the bottle is held, or the bottle is cradled in the palm of a hand beneath it.

Likewise, should Champagne be poured by elegantly inserting the thumb into the punt (sp?) and not by grabbing the neck and warming it?

Just details, of course.

Reply to
Bill Davy

d) the label tells me where the sediment is - opposite side of the bottle

You are not alone, but IMHO this is rather an issue for sommeliers. I seldom care, esp. at blind tastings ;-)

Martin

Reply to
Martin Schulz

Labels falling off seems to be a thing of the past. That's not all good IMO. The modern glues make collecting labels an almost impossible task in most cases.

I've seen that done, but most of us are too clumsy to execute that maneuver safely. :^)

I don't really care how the bottle is held during pouring, but there are a couple of things I try to avoid: (1) opening the bottle with a *pop* - followed by a geyser of wine spewing to waste on the table or floor; and (2) pouring Champagne so vigorously into the glass that it foams over the top and onto the table. I _much_ prefer that the glass be held at an angle and the wine poured down the inner side of the glass so that all those expensive bubbles (and wine) don't go to waste.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

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