I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know. TIA.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know.
TIA.
--

Well I don't, sorry. But I bet someone will over at rec.crafts.winemaking

On 22/10/05 12:39, in article , "shazzbat"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
.uk...
I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know.
TIA.
--

Well I don't, sorry. But I bet someone will over at rec.crafts.winemaking

Brilliant! Thank you.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article ,
Sacha wrote:
I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know. TIA.

There really isn't anything to rebottling. Just pour the liquid into
a clean, dry bottle, leaving any residue behind, soak the cork briefly
in hot water and hammer it in with a small mallet or anything heavy.
You should use a new cork - a corking machine (just a sort of funnel)
makes things easier, but it is essential only for sparkling wines.

If there is a lot of fine murk, pouring it through some cotton wool
in a funnel is a good idea. This is a trick used for decanting wines
that may have been shaken that I was taught many years ago by a
really old-fashioned wine merchant.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 22/10/05 12:51, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:

In article ,
Sacha wrote:
I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know. TIA.

There really isn't anything to rebottling. Just pour the liquid into
a clean, dry bottle, leaving any residue behind, soak the cork briefly
in hot water and hammer it in with a small mallet or anything heavy.
You should use a new cork - a corking machine (just a sort of funnel)
makes things easier, but it is essential only for sparkling wines.

If there is a lot of fine murk, pouring it through some cotton wool
in a funnel is a good idea. This is a trick used for decanting wines
that may have been shaken that I was taught many years ago by a
really old-fashioned wine merchant.


Thank you, Nick. It's my son's port which 'went missing' and has just been
re-discovered, lurking in a cupboard here. As it's his, I'd rather he did
any funny business or found someone to do it for him. It's over 30 years
old, so I think there should be quite some deposit. I've used those coffee
filter papers for decanting wine and port before now - never thought of
cotton wool, so thanks.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Thank you, Nick. It's my son's port which 'went missing' and has just been
re-discovered, lurking in a cupboard here. As it's his, I'd rather he did
any funny business or found someone to do it for him. It's over 30 years
old, so I think there should be quite some deposit. I've used those coffee
filter papers for decanting wine and port before now - never thought of
cotton wool, so thanks.

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Sob!

Never do that to a decent port!

Stand it upright for a fortnight, then decant it, ever-so gently.

If you can arange a light under the bottle, you can see if the sediment
is moving, and if it is, when to stop pouring.

*THEN* yu can use the cotton-wool treatment.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know. TIA.

curious

Why do you want to do it?

/curious

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On 22/10/05 13:46, in article
, "Jaques d'Alltrades"
wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know. TIA.

curious

Why do you want to do it?

/curious

As I've said to Nick, it's been found in a cupboard here and the corks on
some bottles are looking very dodgy. In fact, two bottles of the dozen had
lost so much of the port, either through leaking or evaporation that they
had to be thrown away. As the port was a christening present to my son from
his now dead Godfather, he's quite keen not to lose any more of it. But the
clincher is that it has to be sent to Jersey somehow and in its present
state, I doubt it would all get there! Now, I may be wrong but I have the
notion that you shouldn't re-cork old bottles but should decant into new
bottles and re-cork those. If I'm wrong, I'll be very glad because it will
be much easier simply to re-cork the present bottles.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

curious

Why do you want to do it?

/curious

As I've said to Nick, it's been found in a cupboard here and the corks on
some bottles are looking very dodgy. In fact, two bottles of the dozen had
lost so much of the port, either through leaking or evaporation that they
had to be thrown away.

Hmmm. They've been standing upright all this time? If so, go ahead with
the cotton wool - I don't hold out much hope for any quality.

Sorry.

As the port was a christening present to my son from
his now dead Godfather, he's quite keen not to lose any more of it. But the
clincher is that it has to be sent to Jersey somehow and in its present
state, I doubt it would all get there! Now, I may be wrong but I have the
notion that you shouldn't re-cork old bottles but should decant into new
bottles and re-cork those. If I'm wrong, I'll be very glad because it will
be much easier simply to re-cork the present bottles.

I think you'd better decant them all. Some may not be any good at all,
so don't 'blend' any till you've tried it.

Most off-licences do catering, and have stacks of empty bottles. You
might get them to save corks for you too, and these (with tops - not
wine-type corks) can be re-used if sterilised in boiling water. That
swells the cork a bit too.

From a winemaking shop/participating pharmacist, get a packet of
shrink-wrap over-cork caps, and you can make a good job of it - keeps
the air out. You shrink them by either upending the bottle and dunking
them in hot water, or with a viciously hot hair-dryer.

Bottles with corks should be stored on their sides, or the corks shrink...

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On 22/10/05 16:01, in article
, "Jaques d'Alltrades"
wrote:

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

curious

Why do you want to do it?

/curious

As I've said to Nick, it's been found in a cupboard here and the corks on
some bottles are looking very dodgy. In fact, two bottles of the dozen had
lost so much of the port, either through leaking or evaporation that they
had to be thrown away.

Hmmm. They've been standing upright all this time? If so, go ahead with
the cotton wool - I don't hold out much hope for any quality.

No, they haven't! I'm hurt - wounded even. You think I'd store wine
upright?! ;-)
I won't go into detail here but I can promise you that there is no question
of that kind of higgerance in this family! No chance.
In fact, that's why I'm asking the question. I know something has to be
done about this and I want to know how to do it properly.
snip
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

The message k
from Sacha contains these words:

Hmmm. They've been standing upright all this time? If so, go ahead with
the cotton wool - I don't hold out much hope for any quality.

No, they haven't! I'm hurt - wounded even. You think I'd store wine
upright?! ;-)
I won't go into detail here but I can promise you that there is no question
of that kind of higgerance in this family! No chance.
In fact, that's why I'm asking the question. I know something has to be
done about this and I want to know how to do it properly.

Phew! They should be all right then, unless they've been stored in a
*VERY* dry place. The corks ought to be OK. (Though I gather they
aren't.)

I'd put the whole story to urw, then.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article , Sacha
writes
I'm not usually this pre-occupied with alcohol, I promise but does anyone
know how to go about re-bottling and re-corking some old port? I'm sure
I've read/heard this can be done but have no idea where to start. Answers
by email, if preferred - this really is so OT but given the wide-ranging
interests of the members of this group, I feel sure someone will know. TIA.

Sacha, I have read all the replies to your query and all of it is good
advice - one point however is that when you decant into new sterile
bottles, you will have an air space, as the sediment will be poured off
- you must fill up this air space with a comparable port.

I went to Bouchard Pere et Fils at Beaune and I was shown their vintage
Burgundy and observed them tasting and re-corking after decades of being
laid down - they stressed that the air space has to be taken up with a
comparable wine

--
Judith Lea

"Judith Lea" wrote in message
news
In article , Sacha
writes
I went to Bouchard Pere et Fils at Beaune and I was shown their vintage
Burgundy and observed them tasting and re-corking after decades of being
laid down - they stressed that the air space has to be taken up with a
comparable wine

--
Judith Lea
In the presence of a small airspace what is the time period before the wine
goes 'off'?

In article , middleton.walker
writes
Judith Lea
In the presence of a small airspace what is the time period before the wine
goes 'off'?

Actually it can end up as a not so small airspace - after straining off
the lees and tasting the wine to ensure it is not off, that airspace
could be significant - although I have no idea how long it would take
for the wine to go off.

I know that when professional recorking is done that it is done in the
cellar/cave where it is stored so that the temperature/ambience does not
change whilst the cork is removed.

I have some 40 year old Burgundy that I was intending to recork,
however, I think at our age we should enjoy it so when my husband
returns from France next week, I shall celebrate his return by opening a
bottle just for him - not me; as I only drink white wine or bubbly!
Now, if some lovely urg reader can give me the name of a supplier of
Jackson Estate Sauvignon Blanc, I will be their friend for life.

--
Judith Lea

"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
In article , middleton.walker
writes
Judith Lea
In the presence of a small airspace what is the time period before the
wine
goes 'off'?

Actually it can end up as a not so small airspace - after straining off
the lees and tasting the wine to ensure it is not off, that airspace
could be significant - although I have no idea how long it would take
for the wine to go off.

I know that when professional recorking is done that it is done in the
cellar/cave where it is stored so that the temperature/ambience does not
change whilst the cork is removed.

I have some 40 year old Burgundy that I was intending to recork,
however, I think at our age we should enjoy it so when my husband
returns from France next week, I shall celebrate his return by opening a
bottle just for him - not me; as I only drink white wine or bubbly!
Now, if some lovely urg reader can give me the name of a supplier of
Jackson Estate Sauvignon Blanc, I will be their friend for life.

--
Judith Lea

Thanks for the response....H