As I read through lists of wine that are for sale or auction, I occasionally run into the word "recorked," especially on some very old wines. But what exactly does that mean? Do they replace the old cork with a new one? And is that a safe thing to do? How do they prevent air from entering the bottle during the "recorking" proccess?
Thanks in advance.
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There are a couple of wineries - Penfolds and some Bdx 1st growths - that offer recorking periodically with their older wines. They top off if neccessary. I'm nsure, but it might be the wines are opened in a vacuum enviroment (similar to oxygen free bottling lines). Dale
Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply
They generally just open, top off with either that vintage, if they have it, or a more recent one if they don't, and whang a new cork in - nothing fancy. Generally an unnecessary procedure in wines under a half century old.
In addition, I have seen a few old ports that have been recorked - usually in the UK. Some 1908 Cockburn's that had been recorked by a wine firm in the UK came up for auction several years ago, for example. The saving grace for many of the really old wines from the 1800s, especially vintage Madeira, is that they often were sealed with a heavy coat of sealing wax over the neck rather than using a lead foil. This wax seal can protect the wine long after the cork no longer can seal well, and the seal can be patched with more sealing wax if necessary. Of course many vintage Madeiras were kept in large glass demijohns for decades before sealing in a bottle, so the cork often is considerably younger than the wine inside the bottle.
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Note that Michael Broadbent - the UK guy with probably the widest experience in oldest, rarest and finest bottles - is against the practice of recorking: He sais he *never* had a recorked bottle of wines that was on par with the best bottles of this wine with original corks.
M.
I have heard (but cannot give proof for the moment) that they also give a dose of sulphur to prevent oxidation by aeration during the procedure.
M.
best bottles of this wine with
I don't think I have ever had a bottle that wasn't otherwise abused, where the cork was disintegrating, and that goes back as far as 100 year old wines.
Remember that wonk that hung around here for awhile, who claimed you had to recork every 20 years or something? Wonder what happened to him.
He's probably living happily with Rosaphilia somewhere........
Some 15 or so years ago, a 60 Minutes program was devoted totally to a Morley Safer interview with Baron Phillipe and one of the highlights was his personal cellar. They showed a guy recorking bottles and the Baron stated that he thought 25 years was as long as a cork could be expected to last.
He must have different cellar conditions (though I doubt it). I have lots of 30 year + wine with no cork problems.
I suppose if I had a corker on the payroll, I might decide to use him whether or not it was really necessary...;-)
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