1986 Cork dropped 1/2" during shipping. How to proceed?

I just received some WineBid wines (mostly younger stuff) but had a couple older bottles in there and a 1986 (Birth year) Moillard MSD Monts Luisants had the cork “slip” 1/2" below the foil (the pic on the auction listing as well as the description has no cork issue). I’ve never seen this and not sure how it might affect the wine (my guess is it won’t very much). It also got held up over the weekend (in Newark where the weather was 60 degrees, so not too concerned), but slightly worried a climate issue caused the problem. Either way it was an experiment purchase and I have it standing up to give it a shot in a few weeks. Any experience/thoughts?
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Personally I’d email them at let them know. The cork was probably already pretty thin and it was probably the jostling from shipping that moved it further

Hold the bottle upside down, and bang on a wooden cutting board.

Or file a Fedex claim. If so, good luck. Fedex will perhaps claim no true damage to the wine.

I’m going to guess: Assuming they were shipped standing up via air… cork shrunk a little over time, reduced air pressure allows air to escape, on the descent things equalized and the corks were sucked in.

Headspace looks okay - interested in the tasting notes.

The cork is probably soaked all the way through and as Ed noted, probably some air pressure changes could push it easily. Looking at that closeup, I think you either need to see if Winebid will do a return due to shipping damage, or get that cork out of there PDQ and replace it with a stopper. The cork is on an angle, so there’s not much tension with the neck holding it in. That thing could go the rest of the way with a small amount of jostling.

take your shoe, put the bottle in and hammer it against a wall !

Just out of curiosity, and I saw somebody else recommended this upstream as well, why is this the recommended approach? It seems to me the bottle has already been compromised so either open it immediately or send it back. I would probably send them a note and open it immediately. I did that not too long ago on a 1982 GPL that suffered the same thing in overnight shipment, and it had already been compromised.

Chances are the wine was compromised well before it was shipped. That cork lost its elasticity long ago, and remained in place due to inertia and immobility. I have had a fair number of bottles in which standing the bottle up was enough to dislodge the cork, and in general they have shown poorly. I would open in as soon as possible and let WineBid know asap as well. It is one of the risks of buying old wines.

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Do nothing with the bottle, actually. Then, re-sell it, depicting accurately (but narrowly) the impressively minor ullage.

The capsule seems in good shape, enough to shield the bottle contents from flight-related air pressure changes. If the bottle traveled via truck, that explanation drops-----like the cork itself.

Drink it soon, like this week, or return it.

Got in touch with WineBid. We’ll see. I think I’ll say screw it and open it tonight since it’s already exposed to air and keep my expectations low…

that’s the right call - let us know how it behaves

This

Heres the notes:
Cork slipped during shipping. Was overnight but received 3 days late. Opened 2 days after delivery, so unclear how much air this got. Removed foil and cork is soaked and falls in instantly, smh. Decanted for sediment and cork. Still a bit murky, but not bad and a good crimson color, an appropriate amount of orangish-brown hue at the rim. Autumnal nose, dried leaves, figs, some dark chocolate, a faint bit of vinegary volatility, and slightly musty. 3 hours air seemed to take care of the fleeting faultiness and gained a little bit of potpourri. Much younger on the palate. Some iron like oxidized notes at first, but gets going good with wild strawberry at the edges and tart dark cranberry at the center, just a tiny bit prune-y, and a delicate frame that still has some concentration and punch. This seems to be from the small bit of ‘Monts Luisants’ that is classified village, but the length is very good 1er cru quality. Not as complex as I thought it could be, but more than a little charming. I’m glad my expectations were low. This was a very nice wine that wasn’t in great shape but still managed to perform.
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and they all lived happily ever after. The End.

Chris, glad your wine was fine and sounds quite lovely. WineBid customer service let me know that you checked in with them and I hope they resolved the concerns to your satisfaction. Even though it was FedEx issue, we want to do our best to make all our buyers/winners happy.

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It’s a 35 year old villages wine from a so-so negociant. If you could drink it, it’s a “success”. And it sounds a bit interesting as well…so “great”!

At first glance the pic looks like it spilled all over the table. Good to hear it worked out.

+1 And not an outstanding vintage.

A very happy ending, I’d say!