The Dried-out Cork.
How does it happen that virtually everyone, even those who know nothing and care nothing about wine, knows that a bottle of wine should be stored on its side, and that the reason is to keep the cork moist so that "it doesn't dry-out and shrink"?
The truth is that you cannot wet a cork. It is impervious to water, and if it were not, it would not make an effective stopper, and, if you cannot wet a cork, it cannot dryout!.
Over the years, I have opened countless bottles of wines - new, old and very old. I observe that sometimes the outside of the cork might be moldy (the space between the cork and the capsule is an ideal environment for mold which has no effect on the wine inside the bottle) but, invariably the outside of the cork is sound, while quite often the inside of the cork, which is in contact with the wine, is crumbly. I have come to the conclusion that the deterioration of the inside of the cork is caused by contact with acid. in the wine. So we should be storing wine bottles standing upright. I recently proved that to be true!
My personal wine cellar, goes back to the sixties. Recently I came across an unopened case of Barra 1970 Gattinara from Piedmont, Italy - it is made of Nebbiolo , as is Barolo and Barbaresco, which can age beautifully. The bottles were packed standing upright and had been that way for about thirty-seven years. Surprisingly the wine level in every bottle is way up the neck, right below the cork, as it was when it was filled. I pulled a cork and found it to be no more than a half inch long - probably the cheapest cork you can buy, but amazingly, both outside and inside faces in "as new" condition, untouched by wine. Proof, in another way, that contact with wine causes cork to disintegrate.
Even more surprising, the thirty-eight-year-old wine, which I am sure cost me less than $2 a bottle, is superb - beautifully aged Nebbiolo - and. still delicious three days after being opened.
So why are bottles packed and stored on their side? Could it be that storing bottles upright is not space-efficient?
Why do many Californian producers pack their wines upside-down? Could it be that they believe the wet-cork myth?
If you would like a taste of my Barra 1970 Gattinara, get yourself to the Madison Wine Shop (rick@rickspicks.com for directions) on Saturday July 5, starting at 12 noon. I will be opening one bottle only, as part of our regular Saturday tasting.
Rick Lewis
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