I had long heard about the re-corking events held by Penfolds, where customers bring in older bottles of wine to be checked and re-corked, but I guess I never thought I needed to do something like that. I love drinking old wines and I'm used to seeing old corks, and also used to the mature profile of older wines. Recorking would, in general, involve topping up the bottle with a new vintage - which would damage the purity of the original wine... so I haven't been too eager to do something like that. This time, though, one of the sessions was for clients of Christies, so the Specialist invited me to the session. She knew, of course, that I do have a small collection of old Grange that may fit the bill. After giving it due consideration, I figured I would see what this was all about. I haven't stepped foot inside The Upper House for a few years, and certainly have not been to the top floor where the restaurant is located. As soon as the elevator doors opened, there was a full frontal assault by the intense perfume that permeates the room. Not sure who picked the space for this event, but there was no way I could smell anything from a wine glass... So when I was poured a glass of Penfolds Champagne Cuvée Brut as a welcome drink, I very quickly gave up on trying to enjoy the nose. It was all perfume.
Penfolds Chief Winemaker Peter Gago presides over these clinics, and he started by explaining how the process works, and the different treatment they give to bottles judged to be in various conditions. They first check the level and see whether it is low enough to warrant re-corking - something Peter described as a "last resort" - as it is preferable not to interfere with the wine.
During this process, a small pour from the bottle is shared between the owner of the bottle and the winemaker checking the condition. If it was judged to be in a state that is consistent with the wine's age, then it can be certified by the winemaker and affixed with a signed sticker on the back of the bottle. A record is kept of the date and the owner's name, which can be used for future reference. It will then be re-corked with a branded cork appropriate for the wine, sealed with a corresponding capsule, and finished with an appropriate wrapping paper. The extracted old cork is placed in a presentation box along with a certificate. If a wine is judged to be not quite up to standard - meaning it has deteriorated more than it should have - then it is not certified with a sticker. Instead, a single white dot is stuck on the bottle to mark its status. The bottle is then re-corked with a plain cork, and not finished with a capsule. The extracted cork does not receive a presentation box, and is either returned wrapped in a paper towel or discarded. The winemaker would suggest consuming the bottle "in the near future". If the wine is so poor - or judged not to be the wine it was purported to be at all - then it receives the dreaded "two white dots" treatment. Consumption is not recommended.
There were two re-corking station today, and winemaker Shavaughn Wells would be the one doing the health check on my bottles. We started with the 1982 Grange, which is my only remaining bottle of this vintage. I initially had reservations about re-corking this bottle, as it is Foursheets' vintage and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to mess with the bottle. I figured, though, that it was better to know in advance whether there were any issues with a bottle this age.
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