Recorking.

Some producers offer recorking services.

There are other producers that make wine that can last 30+ years that would deserve recorking.

I have been reviewing my notes from a visit to Charlie Smith at Smith-Madrone and he said the problem with aging corks on the side is the alcohol degrades the cork.

So my question is, how do we bring about more recorking on old, ageworthy wines!

Either (a) don’t worry about it, or (b) screwcaps.

Nice!

Historically, recorking also entailed topping up, usually with some more recent vintage. Not everyone is keen on that.

If the fill is low and you don’t want to top up, you may be better leaving the cork in and not exposing the wine to even more air.

Worth reading the critical opinions on this forum about Borgogno’s ‘reconditioning’ for their black capped museum releases, wines priced at a large premium to the original red capped release, yet it is the latter that is mostly sought by people here.

Certainly there is devil in the detail, and their practice of decanting off the sediment & topping up, seems for many to be destructive to the wine.

Dealing with TCA and oxidised wines needs consideration. TCA affected bottles should be replaced if a winery offers this service, but in all likelihood this would have to be a recent release unless they held large library stocks. Oxidised wines at that age are IMO more of an occupational hazard, so Penfolds approach seems sensible (see their recorking clinics T&C)

Finally, if the wine is just for your own pleasure and never to be sold on, then home recorking is an option and the gear is widely available (for home winemakers), though be wary of using corks that haven’t been supplied with guarantees or at least promises against TCA, as if standard corks have (say) a 4% (perceptible) TCA rate, then what was a .04 chance of TCA, now increases to 1 - .96^2

I have read about topping off with wine of a different vintage, can’t remember the exact details now.

It is heresy.

This. Thank you.

I´ve never had a recorked bottle that wasn´t worse than one with original cork …
(and I´ve compared several).

noting,

I don’t sell wine, invest in wine, or transport wine (other than to the table)

but over the last few years I have opened and drunk about 150 bottles from the 60’s and 70’s, and plenty of them have had corks which weere squishy, crumbly, loose-fitting, cemented to the bottle neck, split into several pieces, soaked…pretty much anything you might expect to see after removing an old cork from a bottle. But I have found to my satisfaction that as long as the cork kept the wine inside the bottle, it was discharging its job perfectly well, and probably would have continued to do so for many years to come.

While I can envision circumstances where changing a functioning cork might be adviseable, storing wine for future drinking is not one of them.

Original is king!

If a producer has used some weak corks for a lot of fine wine, I can see the necessity to correct the issue. Recorking must be done to save the wine into maturity.

The rare old bottles held by the producers, are also mostly recorked and topped off. Sometimes sold in smaller portions as “library releases”. Here it is nice to know the bottles are actually in good condition, as the producers have tested them before releasing them (at a hefty price usually).

But as a collector, history lover, and enjoyer of originals, I will always choose the untouched old bottle, with no tampering done.

We are never 100% sure what actually happened when old bottles were re-conditioned. -Topped off? -with what? -And why was it done at all? -Maybe the fills were terrible, or the corks were leaking?

When to recork? Very low fill, leaking, wrong position of cork, degraded cork…? If it’s damaged, it’s damaged!
-If it’s good looking at 40y, leave it alone! It can probably take 40 more.
Today the corks are longer, and often better, than 80 years ago, But the really good old ones are still holding the wine. -Let them finish the job. Respect them ole corks!
I’m always a little bit suspicious, when I hear about a re-conditioned oldie. Who did it, and what was done? This uncertainty is eliminated when I get the ‘real thing’.

Regards, Søren.

If the bottle has a fairly low fill, it’s probably time to drink the wine.

+1
To top off and recork such a bottle, would probably yield a ‘special wine’, compared to the originals, especially if aged for decades afterwards.

I mostly hold to this stance, Soren,

And let me be clear that I don’t and wouldn’t advocate topping off with wrong vintage wines - what I read was in the context of a scandal.

And I do know about the tools for recorking for home use. But I was wondering about whether there is a need for an independent third party recorking entity, something more trustworthy (if that’s possible) than a home job.

I was just wondering if there was a need for such a thing.

Seems like probably not.

Penfolds see the need, and presumably the recorking clinics cost a lot of money to run. However this is probably seen as an expense related to their ‘rewards of patience’ marketing, plus they ask silly money for all the range now, so the drinkers are paying for it!

The home option would effectively reduce the commercial value of the wine to $0 (as the buyer would not know what was actually beneath the cork). Now many of us plan never to sell a bottle of wine, but it’s not sensible to assume that would still apply wrt the estate after our death.

I always though the Penfolds ones were more of a marketing thing.

I have not had any reconditioned bottles. What I have heard in Burgundy is they use the same wine from the same vintage with s little so2 added and cork replaced. Basically open one bottle check it add a little so2 to it then top off 4-12 bottles and recork. In my head this happens in a cold dark cellar with a hand corker not on a bottling line that can sparge the headspace and provide a vacuum.

I seem to recall in Allen Meadows book him not loving the idea of reconditioning but also mentioning there was no other way for him to taste sound wine that old.

As far as screw caps are concerned what does the industry put lifespan at of the plastic liner when in contact with a acidic alcoholic liquid? Why is the ullage non existent?

With more cork suppliers offering cork by cork TCA detection that issue will be a non issue in the future discussions of cork vs. screw cap.

What do you mean by ullage nonexistent?

That is doesn’t creep down, or that you think they are brimmed to the top?

Does not lower as water and alchol exaporate and air goes in.

Pretty tight seal. Stays primary for a long time.