Ullaged wine

[Greynomad]

Finally. Isolation has given me the time to investigate a wine stain under our wine rack.
I suspect the bottle on the right (vintage: 1977) may be the culprit. I don’t think I’ll bother tasting it to check.
Bottle on left (vintage: 1975) might Be worth tasting, but I reckon it’ll be borderline.

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[supersparky]

Ray, have the bottles been damaged, or has it leaked out past shrunken corks? Maybe I should look up what ullaged means?
Edit. Ullage- heads pace between liquid and top of container etc.

[homeless]

Truth is in the tasting Ray.
Rip the top off and have a go.
For safety have a bottle OR two of good stuff to cleanse the pallet if required

[Newcastle George]

Drink it when you buy it!!

George

[T1 Terry]

It is still excellent as a flavour and aroma additive when cooking, even if it isn't really drinkable.

T1 Terry

[supersparky]

It looks like the consensus is to have a crack Ray. Or maybe it's a guzzle. Let us know how it goes.

[dream4red]

One sip is enough to know if it's good enough to drink or for the cooking pot. Go on, be daring.

We have a bottle of grandfather port that we have been sitting on since 1973, stored carefully, we will be cracking it when we have great grandchildren, so age wont bother us.

[T1 Terry]

One sip is enough to know if it's good enough to drink or for the cooking pot. Go on, be daring.

We have a bottle of grandfather port that we have been sitting on since 1973, stored carefully, we will be cracking it when we have great grandchildren, so age wont bother us.

Have a decanter bottle read when you crack the aged bottle and transfer it as soon as you open the bottle. The crust aging wine throws on the inside of the bottle will taint the wine once it has been opened, decanting to another clean bottle or fancy crystal decanter will stop the wine from spoiling.

T1 Terry

[Greynomad]

I was taught very early that if you wouldn’t drink it, you don’t cook with it!
I frequently decant old bottles for the very reason mentioned.
The bottles are undamaged, it’s the corks which have tiny faults which, if you drink the wine soon enough, don’t matter. However, over 43 years, provide a route for the wine to seep out. As you can see, there was a lot of seeping going on over that time.
And if I’m suspicious of possible sediment, I never drain the bottle!
Frequently corks of that age will disintegrate if a normal corkscrew is used. Fortunately, many MANY years ago I purchased a double-helix corkscrew.
It will often successfully remove aged corks, and if they separate at the full extent of the corkscrew, its points are sharp enough to often pick up the remaining plug.
However, occasionally I have to resort to a tea strainer to ensure that no cork fragments pollute the decanting.
I also have a ‘cork pump’. A Swedish-designed device which has a hand-operated airpump with a hollow needle attached — sort of an oversized syringe with a right-angle bend in the middle.
The problem is that, if the cork has leaked, air will also leak. So it is only useful on well-sealed corks.
Looks like I’m in for an interesting time opening those two...

[Busman]

Better drop in here then Ray, when you guys can travel. Gave away our first bottles last week and were immediately beseiged with requests for purchase. Geez, some people, get something for free and then want to pay you for it. No way we want another business with all that attendant regulation. All our wine is screwcapped with the exception of port which uses some push on type screwcaps we picked up somewhere.

So far we have several excellent Cab Savs (2019) which will carry for years, and some light drinking Shiraz, some of which we will blend with a bit of the Cabernet. We also have 3 different styles of Verdelho from current vintage that is already drinking very well.

Lots of fun learning how to do this instead of just enjoying the end product !