The Wine & Whisky Thread

[Barry]

Welcome Mark!

Is this you debut posting to this little corner of AoS? I was beginning to wonder if it was the equivalent of "28 Days Later", and I was the only one here!

[Reid Malenfant]

Welcome Mark!

Is this you debut posting to this little corner of AoS? I was beginning to wonder if it was the equivalent of "28 Days Later", and I was the only one here!

I think I might have been here previously, but it was quite a while ago though, so I'm not surprised you missed me when I did post - if I did



It wouldn't surprise me, there does appear to be some synergy between me & a few drinks

[Beobloke]

Discovered a new ale from our local brewery last night - Bowman Ales South Sea Spice. Nice light ale with a surprising, and very pleasing, blast of ginger - lovely!

http://www.bowman-ales.com/our_beers.html

I have to order some kegs from them for our neighbourhood Jubilee lunch this weekend - I can see a 9 pinter of SSS sneaking its way into my kitchen under the radar...

[Barry]

Greetings fellow oenophiles,


Just to let you know Tesco are selling a 2011 Côtes de Gascogne vin blanc for £4.99 a bottle (normal price £7.29)



This Gascon wine is made from a mixture of Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc grape. 12% ABV

The offer ends 19 June, so hurry and pick up a few bottles – it may not look like it, but Summer will return!

[Barry]

2007 Chateau Capbern Gasqueton, Saint - Estephe



“Boasting blackcurrant complexity with irresistible mineral hints, this textbook left-bank claret crafted by Bordeaux aristocracy (Château Calon-Ségur) is the last word in seduction.”

Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Château bottled. 13% ABV

I find this wine to have a fairly ‘dumb’ nose, but this is more than made up by a deep, full and rich body. The tannins are soft, but I’ve drunk wines with softer tannins.

Enjoyed with Boef Bourgeon, new potatoes, carrots, ratatouille, club broccoli and spinach.

[Barry]

This seems to be the best place to ask for advice on a problem encountered recently.

It concerns wine corks breaking up whilst they are being removed from the bottle. What has happened on three occasions now is the cork will break up, or snap, part-way from being removed from the bottle. A portion of the cork is left behind and the only way it can be removed is to reapply the corkscrew, requiring a complete breach of the cork and thus decanting of the wine.

Examination of the end of the cork shows that it was fully 'wetted' and the cork had provided an air-tight seal to the wine. However it seems the bulk of the cork itself has dried out, making it less 'spongey' and more brittle, yet the corks have not shrunk and the wine itself has not been "corked".

All the three bottles were 2006 vintage, though this is probably coincidental, and all were stored horizontally.

The corkscrew I usually use is a hollow screw 'sommelier' lever-style type, though if I find the removal of the cork to be being stubborn, I will use a closed screw two-handle jack-style type. I never screw the corkscrew in too far, so as to breach the cork, nor do I only screw it in part way: to do so is a guarantee of either the cork breaking in half or the corkscrew pulling out leaving a partly removed cork still in the bottle.

I suspect it is entirely coincidental that three bottles in a row have displayed this problem, and that all were bottled in the same year.

Any comments anyone?

[Thing Fish]

At the risk of someone having once drunk a bottle of Penfolds and deciding to get this video pulled.

I give you 'Penfolds Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon'

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1bb_1341078788

[Barry]

At the risk of someone having once drunk a bottle of Penfolds and deciding to get this video pulled.

I give you 'Penfolds Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon'

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1bb_1341078788

Do you suppose the wine tastes any better for being housed that way? Is the wine good enough to justify the bottle? Is it a case of "judging a book by its cover"?

Regardless - it's nice to see fine craftmanship alive and well.

Thanks for providing the video link.

[Thing Fish]

Do you suppose the wine tastes any better for being housed that way? Is the wine good enough to justify the bottle? Is it a case of "judging a book by its cover"?

Regardless - it's nice to see fine craftmanship alive and well.

Thanks for providing the video link.

I'd like to try a glass to find out...

[Marco]

Hi Barry,

It concerns wine corks breaking up whilst they are being removed from the bottle. What has happened on three occasions now is the cork will break up or snap part-way from being removed from the bottle. A portion of the cork is left behind and the only way it can be removed is to reapply the corkscrew, requiring a complete breach of the cork and thus decanting of the wine.

It's also happened to me, mate. The reason is that the structural integrity of the cork can become eroded by an enzymatic reaction in the cork itself, which makes it brittle, and thus prone to breaking, when sufficient force is applied pulling the cork out of the bottle.

There's nothing you can do about it. However, the type of corkscrew you're using at the moment is less than ideal, as it puts way too much stress on the cork. What you need is one of these chaps, such as I use:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Screwpull-Cr...1097160&sr=1-2

Those have a much gentler action of pulling out the cork, and so rarely have I had any problems, even with 'dry' corks. I also use the matching foil cutter, to excellent effect

Examination of the end of the cork show that it was fully 'wetted' and the cork had provided an air tight seal to the wine. However it seems the bulk of the cork itself has dried out, making it less 'spongey' and more brittle, yet the corks have not shrunk and the wine itself has not been "corked".

The enzymatic reaction I'm referring to, which dries out corks, is not related to the chemical reaction that causes a wine to be 'corked', so don't worry about that.

I suspect it is entirely coincidental that three bottles in a row have displayed this problem, and all were bottled in the same year.

Most likely. It'll simply be a bad batch of corks used during the bottling process.

Just get the cork out as best you can, and decant the wine (as indeed you should be doing with all decent red wine, in order to let it aerate), in order to remove the remnants of cork floating in the wine, and you'll be fine!

Marco.