So I stopped by Winebid to pick up some purchases yesterday. One purchase was a 375ml 2002 Ridge Home Ranch.
On inspecting the bottle, I found a small puncture in the center of the silver capsule, which appeared to penetrate the cork also. It did not look like the engineered holes you find in some other capsules. However, the winebid guy assured me that Ridge put these in the capsules in case of seepage. Not having had Ridge wines before, and thinking that this looked like an “aftermarket poke”, I was skeptical. So he went off to find another Ridge bottle from inventory to show me. But he came back empty handed saying he couldn’t find any after all.
I rejected the bottle and they credited my account readily. But I thought I’d ask any Ridge owners out there if there is indeed a single, small puncture in the center of Ridge bottlings. Maybe I was too skeptical and I missed out on a nice bottle (and my first Ridge!)
Have never seen that and have had a good amount of ridge monte bello from the 1970’s through early 2000’s. Can check some newer bottles this weekend as well.
Wow, thanks for the information, Robert and Josh. Glad I rejected it then. Yes, my suspicion was that it was a coravin issue. The fill was very top shoulder so that wasn’t really definitive. The winebid personnel (I dealt with two individuals) were more defensive about the whole issue than anything else (not at all curious to see if they had overlooked something).
Makes me glad I am pick up my Winebid purchases rather than have them shipped. In the same batch there was an older bottle of Nikolaihof with an almost completely cut capsule dangling down the side of the bottle. That wasn’t mentioned in the auction and I had to reject that one too.
I registered on this board just so I could respond to this.
I checked my inventory of Ridges covering vintages 1991, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011. None have holes in the capsules except for both the 2004s. I wish that I had something from 2002 to compare more directly with Katrina’s experience, but, sadly, I do not.
Now, while I am reporting “holes” in the capsules of these 2004s, it is possible that these might be more correctly described as “dimples.” I cannot see cork.
So, I’m wondering if it might be the equipment that Ridge was using in this early 21st-century era that might have been creating these holes/dimples.
Yes, that was correct. They did have a cellar where the client used post-it notes and thumbtacks to identify wines. Hence my picture post above of those objects…
Thanks for checking your inventory and thanks so much for the info. In the 2002 I bought, it was definitely a hole rather than a dimple, and did appear to penetrate into cork, which you could clearly see beneath the punctured capsule. Wish I had thought to take a pic before returning it. Could have been a pushpin puncture as Michael and Chris suggest (didn’t understand your first post, Michael, with image!). Though it seemed a little too small to be a pushpin. I guess it is possible though, especially since fill was just about ok.
That’s what one of the WineBid guys said too. Are bottle necks same on 375 as 750 size bottles… Wonder if that could that have made a difference to puncture location?
@Kyle – Their explanation made no sense. But then, their explanation for the cut capsule on the Nikolaihof was equally nonsensical to me (“must have been how the bottle was positioned in the rack”). They seemed, as I said, defensive rather than curious/intrigued about the whole thing. They did however promise to “shoot me an email” if they figured anything out. Haven’t heard from them yet.
