44 year old Rioja and my new Durand

WINE TALK
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Last night we had a 1970 Berberana Carta de Oro Rioja. This is the oldest Rioja I have had, and I really didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a beautiful, lithe, ethereal wine that was a joy to drink, faded not one bit over 3 hours or so, and provided extraordinary pleasure to the last drop. It is not a “robust” wine, and I don’t have any way of knowing whether it ever was. And I think one could reasonably call it “shy” or understated in some respects, but that would be no criticism. The tannins were, of course, long gone, and the wine had developed all the secondary, tertiary, and, for all I know, quaternary characteristics it will even have. Not bad for, what, $45 at Rare Wine?

Oh, and the corkscrew was brilliant. The cork was soaked – wet and mushy to the touch all the way to the top, which concerned me no end as I opened the wine – and it had degraded to the point that an ordinary screw would have made a hash of it. But the Durand kept things intact and made extraction very simple.
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Durand is great and so are older Riojas!

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I bet that was a great night, thanks for sharing. Never heard of this estate. Cool pic!

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Nice. Love the Durand. Sounds like a great experience with the wine as well. Thanks.

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the Durand is an essential tool for opening older wines.
Nice note Neal.

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Dredging this up to note that the Durand worked brilliantly to “rescue” a 1994 Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva I just opened. I hadn’t thought to pull out the Durand for a wine that is “only” 20 years old, but the cork was dry and simply disintegrated at the neck with my screwpull, and I figured I’d try the Durand. There was hardly anything for the screw to “bite” but the tangs reached down to the base of the cork and the device worked like a charm.

Love this thing

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Berberana made great wines. Thanks for the note. Have still a few 1964 Gran Reservas which are still drinking extremely well.Very ageworthy. A
lot of new things lately, Durand, Zalto [cheers.gif]

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Nice note Neal…Planning on using my Durand on a 1964 Barolo tomorrow night.


Cheers!
Marshall

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We recently sold through a boatload of old Berberana Gran Reservas from the mid 80’s up to 2003, wondrous stuff…

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Am I crazy or is the Durand ABSURDLY expensive for a combination of a $.99 corkscrew and a $5 double-tang cork extractor? I mean, who are we kidding here?

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Classic Riojas seem to last forever. Had a 1950 Berberana Gran Reserva in 2012 that was beautiful. 1970 I think was a very very good year for Riojas based on the limited number I’ve had.

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Yeah, my “makeshift” Durand works just fine, thank you! [snort.gif]

Wish I had some aged Riojas… [drinkers.gif]

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Noah,

The Durand is very expensive.
But then so are the wines in my cellar!
It has saved my butt a few times…

It has been said elsewhere on the forum that you can improvise something like a Durand for a fraction of the price.
Maybe.
But I’m not a mechanically-minded sort of guy. I pay the price and intend to use the thing for years, so I’m a satisfied Customer.

Alex R.

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My durand has opened so many old wines it is now blunt … great investment and the price irrelevant re the result … better buy another. Apologies for the RMP ellipsis.

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You are not wrong. The quality of construction is very high – it feels like a precision instrument – but I have no doubt you could make a profit on an equally effective design for $25.

But so far as I know there isn’t one on the market, I wasn’t about to take on the project of building or savaging the parts for one, and the thing works. Really well. I held off for a long time for the very reason you give, but am glad I finally bought one

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I think the Durand is expensive, but you are right, there no competitors, which is somewhat shocking. I kept waiting for the Chinese knockoff, but it never came. After one major tasting, the Durand has already proven itself to be worth its weight in gold. Corks that would normally fall apart with a regular corkscrew are extracted with ease.

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I would imagine the Durand is enjoying its patent protection at the moment. I don’t know when it will expire, but when it does, rest assured, there will be knockoffs.

As it is, it does its job really well. I definitely see room for improvement with a longer and wider worm and I have seen the ah so part come a little loose and the worm snap. But, that said, it currently is the best thing out there, even if it is overpriced. I agree that this could easily be a $25-$30 item.

Anyone remember when Leverpulls were around $125 before they lost their patent in the late '90s and knockoffs started to flood the market in the $20-$40 range?

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I just threw away my $125 Screwpull. I now use the $20 model that is not levered.

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Ditto to what everyone has said on the Durand. I couldn’t bring myself to buy one, so I suggested my wife buy me one for my birthday. Great feel and the little pisser never seems to fail.

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neal
my lack of reading comprehension left me thinking the durand cost $45.
even at $125 though, it still seems like a no brainer.