Aging Corks Fail ??

Corks deteriorate over time, so what you see if pretty natural, especially if you used regular quality corks. All red wines will turn garent at some point if allowed to age that long and tannins will mellow - again, that's just a natural progression. If the wine in the bottles with corks that look ok tastes significantly better, you might want to consider recorking those bottles - assuming all the corks came from the same batchm the "good ones" won't probably last much longer.

Pp

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007, pp said about: Re: Aging Corks Fail ??

Thanks!

I wonder if in the future I waxed the corks or went to synthetic, or...?

Sometimes I hear of 100+ year-old fine wines. What's up with that? I thought that was typical?

--Doug

The quality of cork we get nowadays is inferior to that of just 25 years ago. We used up much of the good stuff, and they try to grow the bark too fast these days by using lotsa water and nutrients. The cork grown this way isn't as dense as naturally grown cork.

Gene

No cork lasts more than 20 years, older fine wines are re-corked and use 2 inch corks of highest quality. No synthetic manufacturer recommends more than 3 years from what I have seen on their websites. Loss of fruit is a natural consequence of age also.

Cork seepage can be caused by a lot of things, usually upward temperature excursions. If they feel crumbly at all you should swap them now; swap all the leakers regardless and maybe touch up to SO2.

Joe

A cork compresses and releases, I don't think wax is going to do that. If I were you I would just replace all the corks with fresh ones. I use Nomacorc now and like them. That will get you a few more years. You will know which ones are going south too. I think your problem is mostly normal deterioration of an average cork. The leakers need attention of some sort even if it's just 'drink them now'... :)

Joe

Yeah, but as you mentioned, Joe, those are not meant for long-term aging and screwcaps are not available to home winemakers, so corks are really the only option for wines aged 10 years. Or crown caps but there the issue is they don't fit on regular wine bottles.

Pp

Please forgive my ignorance, but why aren't synthetics any good for long term aging? And could y ou explain what you class as long term?

I thought they'd be great for that. Are they not inert with a slight permeability (less than cork but better than glass)?

I am disappointed to hear that as I bought hi q synthetic corks to use for maturation of my high alcohol rice wines and others. I just couldnt afford the very best cork in the quantity I needed and figured these would be a better choice.

Many thanks, Jim

Well, long-term definition depends to some extent on the winemaker. The dicussion here was done in the context of the OP, where we were talking about 10 year old wine, certainly long-term. Anything after 5 years would qualify as long-term in my books.

As for synthetics, there are studies that show they don't fare well past 3 years or so. I might not have the latest info, but the reason for this was that wine under synthetics loses SO2 faster than under any closures, So if the wine's bottled with normal SO2 levels, it doesn't last well past the 3 year mark or so. I don't use synthetics so don't know more than that, I'm sure somebody else can supply more detailed info/references.

Pp

Thanks very much for the info, I was unaware of all that...

Jim

how about saving martinelli sparkling cider bottles? They take crown caps and are 750ml.

Gene

Yeah, I know there are bottles out there that take crown caps, it's just hard to get them in quantities I need every year, I don't drink that much cider or sparkling wine... I though about beer bottles for a bit but don't like the look.

Pp

During the production of many champagnes/sparkling wines, the bottles are capped with crown bottle caps. It is only after disgorging that they put in a cork.

From

Champagne Wine Bottles - 750ml - GREEN - 12 per case Quantity These are thick walled, HEAVY, high quality champagne bottle. 750ml and green in color. Will accept #7, #8 or #9 corks along with plastic or natural champaigne corks and wires. A floor corker is highly recommended. Can also accept a crown cap for those who like to ''cork and cap'' their special champagne type brews. Bottle bottoms may be flat, punted or push-up. Price is per case of 12 bottles

Gene

I found a very good discussion here on 750 ml crown cap bottles:

One person said the European champagne bottles take a different size cap, but that the American sparkling wine bottle take regular crown caps. Another recommended taking a regular crown cap with you when you shop for such bottles to make sure they take the normal crown cap and not a special size one.

Gene

One more good point to consider is how long the crown cap provides an adequate seal...

From

"We recommend holding the 750ml bottles no longer than three years and the 187ml for two years. The crown cap closure is secure, but the carbonation will begin to dissipate with age."

It appears those crown capped bottles do have the ability to micro-oxygenate/bottle age wines

Gene