corks for the long haul

The oldest bottle of wine (made with Spanish concentrate) I have kept is 7 years. At the time, I had used premium corks obtained at Wine Art store in Canada. The end result was good but not super excellent. Now I am looking for screw top bottle or a good synthetic cork.

At this time, the quality of cork is not what it use to be. The same old Oak trees have been harvested for too long and the quality has deteriorated

Your question can not be answered correctly until a new synthetic cork has been proven with time. While waiting for an proven synthetic cork many top wineries are using screw top bottles

Check:

The insidious problem with cork mould is that it is not practical to detect it before bottling at the winery. Once the afflicted cork is rammed into the bottle and becomes wet, the mould grows and taints the wine. It is not the fault of the wine and you will find that if a bottle of wine is corked, then usually the rest of the case of wine is fine. It is a random fault affecting something like one in 50 bottles. That's quite a high factor and is of obvious concern because the winery is blamed when really it is a fault of the cork itself

Also check:

Southcorp has developed a new called Aegis that is not as hard as other synthetic corks, and looks similar to a traditional cork. More commercial wines in the Southcorp range will be sealed with it, but longer-term trials will be done before it's used for premium wines. Another product in use is Supreme Corq, made from thermoplastic, which is used in Lindemans Cawarra, Hardys Hunter Ridge, Pepper Tree and Boston Bay wines.

If it's any help, I had several bottles of 40 year old wine that I recently opened. My earlier efforts. The wine was superb. (3 of 4 lots, anyway!)

They all had used corks in them when I bottled. (I couldn't afford to go out and buy corks!) I covered the corks with cotton patches held in place with elastics, and then dipped in sealing wax.

snipped-for-privacy@nb.sympatico.ca wrote:

Jack, 40 years ago I was in better physical condition so was the quality of the corks. The idea of dipping the cotton with wax was and is still a very good thing. Today, at supper, I open a 2004 Merlot. The wine was excellent. I made this batch with a kit purchased at Cotsco. When I pulled the cork out I noticed a slight trace of redish dampness around the cork which gave me food for tought I do not think I could keep this batch for more than 5 to 7 years.

do costco always sell wine kits? You live in the states or Canada?

I live in eastern Canada. Yes Costco sells wine making kit. Usually, the kits are sold in twin pack each one making 5 gallons US I have two batch on the go. The resulting wine from these kits is surprising. The ratio quality price is very good. I have my own well and the water is very good. This may account for making good wine and beer from kits.

Ah, jealousy is so unbecoming of me.....

Darn it, it suits me so well, we have Costco here in the UK, but I'll be if Costco don't sell winekits here. I am jealous as a pig in a suit staring at a sty!

Got any immigration licenses? ;)

Jim

The wine making kit sold at Costco Canada are made with concentrate from Argentina. At first when I visited Costco I did not notice any wine making kit on their display shelves. Then one day when my daughter came with me she lead me to the proper section of the store. England is well renown for amateur wine making. Maybe you should talk to the manager of Costco UK and find out when they will have these wine kits. If they do not already have them it would be a good business move to start stocking these kits. Or maybe you could send Costco UK an email inquiring about wine making kit. Let us know how you make out with them.

Hi Marierdj - I will indeed!

Although the UK has a long history of wine and beer making, I think the local market is less than obvious to many international tbusinesses trading here. Giving them a helpful prod can do no harm and could be beneficial alround.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Jm

alcohol by vol. I hear this wine keeps

such a case. My best local winemaking

beyond 18 months - 2 years. Naturally

these days. If anyone has more good

dice with synthetic corks. If they are

major difference between types? These are a

data on the substance used.

Costco don't sell winekits here. I am

"I live in eastern Canada. Yes Costco sells wine making kit. Usually, the kits are sold in twin pack each one making 5 gallons US."

I live on thw south shore of Montreal. The kits are 5 gallons imperial, 6 gallons US.

Guy

Thanks for the correction. I have inadvertely mentionned the wrong figure Its should have read: Its 23L 6 US gallons, You must have the same stock on the South shore of Montreal as we have in Eastern Canada.

so 23l is 5 imperial as well as 6 US? Its that simple an "exchange rate"?

Yep, though to be pedantic, I believe 5UK Gallons is 22.73 litres and 6 US Gallons is 22.71 litres. I don't think many would argue the toss!

Jim

Yes, its a quick approximation use currently in this neck of the wood. The only available glass carboy we have are 6 US gallons and 23 litres sizes. In reality we have: 5 Imperial gallons = 22.73 litres 6 US gallons = 22.7124 litres 23 litres = 6.0759 US gallons or 5.05939 Imperial gallons When I first rack from the primary (23-24 litres) plastic fermentor to secondary I use a 23 litres glass carboy. Then for the second racking I use a 6 gallons US (22.7124 litres) glass carboy. This way I do not have to top up to make up for the sedimentation left into the 23 litres carboy.

carboys are only approximate containers so yes.

Here is some info from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology on the differences between Imperial and US measurements and why the exist:

'The American colonists adopted the English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches. The English of that period used this wine gallon and they also had another gallon, the ale gallon of 282 cubic inches. In 1824, the British abandoned these two gallons when they adopted the British Imperial gallon, which they defined as the volume of 10 pounds of water, at a temperature of 62 F, which, by calculation, is equivalent to 277.42 cubic inches. At the same time, they redefined the bushel as

8 gallons.

In the customary British system the units of dry measure are the same as those of liquid measure. In the United States these two are not the same, the gallon and its subdivisions are used in the measurement of liquids; the bushel, with its subdivisions, is used in the measurement of certain dry commodities. The U.S. gallon is divided into four liquid quarts and the U.S. bushel into 32 dry quarts. All the units of capacity or volume mentioned thus far are larger in the customary British system than in the U.S. system. But the British fluid ounce is smaller than the U.S. fluid ounce, because the British quart is divided into 40 fluid ounces whereas the U.S. quart is divided into 32 fluid ounces.

ounce of water at 62 F has a volume of one fluid ounce, because 10 pounds is equivalent to 160 avoirdupois ounces, and 1 gallon is equivalent to 4 quarts, or 160 fluid ounces. This convenient relation does not exist in the U.S. system because a U.S. gallon of water at 62 F weighs about 8 1/3 pounds, or 133 1/3 avoirdupois ounces, and the U.S. gallon is equivalent to 4 x 32, or 128 fluid ounces.

1 U.S. fluid ounce = 1.041 British fluid ounces 1 British fluid ounce = 0.961 U.S. fluid ounce 1 U.S. gallon = 0.833 British Imperial gallon 1 British Imperial gallon = 1.201 U.S. gallons'

Here is the link for anyone wanting more...

As to long term storage of homemade wine the only proven solution is a very high quality cork. Synthetics are not meant for more than a few years.

Joe

Thanks Joe! I dont know where we would be without our resident metrologist!

Sean