Do tell . . .
Larry, it’s such a part of wine lore, it’s never brought up as a myth, as far as I know. It’s the idea that bottles need to be stored on their sides or upside down so the cork doesn’t dry out, shrink, and let air in. Who came up with that? It’s been handed down for centuries.
Well . . .
I understand the general concept and also understand that corks do 'dry out '. I have a number of cases that have been stored standing up for a few years, and I can say that, though the wines have been fine, the corks have broken apart when drying to take out.
Do they dry out enough to create a hyper oxidative state or leaking? I’m not sure . . .
Cheers.
Not much of the cork is in contact with the wine, even when the bottle is laying down.
Corks break. New corks break. Old corks break.
But old corks break more.
I’m looking at a bottle of 1962 Pouilly Fuisse that someone gave me. I can see through the bottle that the bottom end of the cork has shrunk noticeably (the capsule is just barely as long as the cork), so I assume it was stored upright.
(The color is surprisingly good – not very dark – so may it’s survived. I’ll know soon enough.)
Dry corks are a serious pain to get out, but they haven’t shrunk at all. If they had shrunk, they’d be easy to extract. Completely wet corks are the ones that shrink. You could push them into the bottle with the slightest effort. I’ve had countless more old wines ruined with a wet cork than I have a dry cork.
That advice about storing wines in a 65-75% relative humidity environment is important for the tops of the corks, so they don’t dry out and become too dry to remove from the bottle.
I would guess that those seriously wet ones shrank first, then got wet.
Dry corks do shrink - as a cork from a 1927 Dows Port we have shows. It was a snug fit when in the neck, but a few years out of the bottle and it would pass straight through a wine bottle neck with ease now.
FWIW though, very porous corks do seem to be more of a problem than whether those corks dry out or become soaked. I suspect the most porous corks would be a problem either way.
I really wish i was learning something here.
The legs are a quick surrogate test to see if the wine conforms to IPOB Sharia law.
I think myth is easy to explain. Wine often was not stored in boxes but on shelves or bins. If they are upright they are very likely to fall over, while on their sides they at most roll. It’s a survival of the fittest type of situation.
And yes, to give Parr his due most of us oldsters learned that legs used to give you a clue to good vs watery vintages.