Opening a 61yr old bottle of wine
Discussion
I have been challenged with opening a bottle of re wine, bottled in 1961 and professionally stored. At some point in the past the cork was supplemented with a wax seal. I know I'll have to stand the wine prior to de-corking and decant it prior to drinking. My question is, using only normal household equipment, is there any tricks or techniques that I should use to open the bottle. Knowing that it has significant value, both monetary and emotionally to the owners, I'd like to be as prepared as possible. They are aware that there are no guarantees as to the quality of the wine
Decent double lever waiters friend should be all you need. It will have the knife to chop off the wax too.
https://www.procook.co.uk/product/procook-waiters-...
Not the end of the world if the cork snaps into a million bits. Just have a clean bit of muslin to pour the wine through as you decant it.
Drink to your hearts content.
https://www.procook.co.uk/product/procook-waiters-...
Not the end of the world if the cork snaps into a million bits. Just have a clean bit of muslin to pour the wine through as you decant it.
Drink to your hearts content.
bobfather said:
I have been challenged with opening a bottle of re wine, bottled in 1961 and professionally stored. At some point in the past the cork was supplemented with a wax seal. I know I'll have to stand the wine prior to de-corking and decant it prior to drinking. My question is, using only normal household equipment, is there any tricks or techniques that I should use to open the bottle. Knowing that it has significant value, both monetary and emotionally to the owners, I'd like to be as prepared as possible. They are aware that there are no guarantees as to the quality of the wine
What's the wine?If the cork has deteriorated, then you might need something like a 'butlers friend' to help get the cork out (not sure how you'll get past the wax seal). A corkscrew might just pull straight through it. Stand the bottle upright for a while to let any sediment settle and decant it to get rid of the sediment as soon as the cork is removed.
Taste it straight away and decide when to serve it. Depending on the wine and its quality, it could deteriorate quite quickly on exposure to air/oxygen. Some wines aren't made, or have the structure or components, to be long lasting, so there's no guarantee of drinkability.
Assume the wine has had really good storage and it a wine that has had great ageing potential. This is a good age for any wine, though there were some amazing French Burgundies. Good luck with the opening and let us know how it went. Agree completely that a filter will remove any collapsed cork.
peter tdci said:
If the cork has deteriorated, then you might need something like a 'butlers friend' to help get the cork out (not sure how you'll get past the wax seal). A corkscrew might just pull straight through it.
There are two styles of wax seal, a simple blob on top of the cork (within the neck of the bottle) and a proper dipped wax capsule. The OP is much more likely to have the latter and, under no circumstances, should he try to pull the cork through the wax capsule! You can usually get away with removing a simple wax disc, and cork at the same time with a conventional corkscrew (if you can’t be bothered to flick the disc out). A combination of waiters friend and butler’s thief can work well, but simplest approach for very old wines is to buy a Durand corkscrew… https://hedonism.co.uk/product/durand-corkscrew
I will confess that I was a little sceptical about them at first, and had previously attempted older bottles using conventional tools with varying success, but saw them in use at a top Bordeaux chateau and had a chat with them about how they got on with them. Since then it’s all I’ve used on very old bottles and I don’t recall a cork disintegrating since. Probably wouldn’t bother using it on anything less than say 25 years old as corks used by good winemakers hold up much better than many people think.
Cut round wax capsule with a knife and remove, taking care to make sure the rim is clean and nothing left in neck, stand the bottle for several days/a week (ideally still at cellar temp but definitely not just left in the kitchen!), use Durand to open (unlikely to be damaged cork dropped into the bottle).
Gently decanting for sediment is really a personal preference, if you do then make sure to run the wine gently down the inside of the decanter (i.e. don’t let it all splash around). If you don’t decant then, even if you pour gently, you’ll get less wine out but will reduce oxygen exposure.
Enjoy the wine, then (if you’re feeling generous) give the Durand to the kind donor of the wine as a further reminder of the event.
We have a 1931 bottle of something. It looks nice on display (also wax sealed cork), but it has never occurred to us to actually open and drink it. Not because of the value (not sure if it is actually worth much), but because it is more of a display piece, may taste rank, and once it is opened it is gone.
Why do you want to drink this one? From the OP it doesn't sound like vintage wine is a normal tipple?
Why do you want to drink this one? From the OP it doesn't sound like vintage wine is a normal tipple?
LimaDelta said:
Why do you want to drink this one? From the OP it doesn't sound like vintage wine is a normal tipple?
The owner was told to drink it by the chap that gave it to her. It has been in her wine rack for 18 months, nobody can see it so I guess it has little value as a possession to show off. I know she is in two minds about this.As this bottle has a wax colk seal, can it be stood up to display it?
Edited by bobfather on Sunday 16th October 14:28
LimaDelta said:
We have a 1931 bottle of something. It looks nice on display (also wax sealed cork), but it has never occurred to us to actually open and drink it. Not because of the value (not sure if it is actually worth much), but because it is more of a display piece, may taste rank, and once it is opened it is gone.
Why do you want to drink this one? From the OP it doesn't sound like vintage wine is a normal tipple?
Well., if it is on display the light and temperature will have destroyed it - no problem of course if you have no intention to open it.Why do you want to drink this one? From the OP it doesn't sound like vintage wine is a normal tipple?
I have had some very old wines, and there is a always an uncertainty in opening them. Still, I had a '61 a couple of years ago and ( a RIchebourg) and it was sensational.
I do not cellar wines myself for that length of time apart from vintage port where I have the remainder of a case of 1963 Taylors from the period when they only had chalk marks and no labels.
I would encourage the OP to try it and see. Life is too short to leave it there to age out before you do.
bobfather said:
The owner was told to drink it by the chap that gave it to her. It has been in her wine rack for 18 months, nobody can see it so I guess it has little value as a possession to show off. I know she is in two minds about this.
As this bottle has a wax colk seal, can it be stood up to display it?
Not for an extended period if there's still a desire to drink it as there's a risk the cork will still dry out in normal room conditions. Even if the cork doesn't fail, the heat of a normal home environment won't do the wine any good.As this bottle has a wax colk seal, can it be stood up to display it?
If it was professionally stored until recently then that suggests that it's something that was worth storing for that long and therefore worth trying.
An empty bottle can still be displayed even if the contents are shot, which is arguably better than displaying a full bottle of something that's been left to go off after being cared for for decades.
bobfather said:
LimaDelta said:
Why do you want to drink this one? From the OP it doesn't sound like vintage wine is a normal tipple?
The owner was told to drink it by the chap that gave it to her. It has been in her wine rack for 18 months, nobody can see it so I guess it has little value as a possession to show off. I know she is in two minds about this.As this bottle has a wax colk seal, can it be stood up to display it?
Edited by bobfather on Sunday 16th October 14:28
Surely the manliest answer is "port tongs"? Kinda like sabering Champagne but with the added joy of fire. 
https://youtu.be/JHHG0vAUVqE
https://youtu.be/JHHG0vAUVqE
seefarr said:
Surely the manliest answer is "port tongs"? Kinda like sabering Champagne but with the added joy of fire.
https://youtu.be/JHHG0vAUVqE
No chance, they want to keep the bottlehttps://youtu.be/JHHG0vAUVqE
andyA700 said:
re you going to tell us what it is, so we can possibly get very jealous? I only ask, because 1961 was a pretty awesome vintage in France and Italy, particularly Bordeaux.
I don't think it's anything particularly special, the purpose of the gift was to celebrate a birth date for a 60th birthday
From a typographic/design perspective, those labels don't seem to have the characteristics of 1960s design-for-print. But I could be wrong.
On second thoughts, after googling other Barra Gattinara labels - 1967, 1971 - I'm almost certainly wrong!
On second thoughts, after googling other Barra Gattinara labels - 1967, 1971 - I'm almost certainly wrong!
Edited by ReverendCounter on Sunday 16th October 18:17
bobfather said:
Last Visit said:
Well OP, how was the opening and the wine?
Delayed until Christmas Eve, I guess it's waited this long, what's another few weeks Make sure you update us once the deed is done.
I've got a 1967 bottle that one day I will open. Id like to say it's been stored carefully and kept at a sensible constant temperature but I'd be telling fibs. Hence not sure how it will taste.
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