To stand or not to stand, that is the question

[Roy Hersh]

You can choose any two of the choices in this poll. Please feel free to add your two cents if you would like!

[Glenn E.]

Well my lone bottle of Madeira is open, so of course it is standing up.

[Roy Hersh]

Now IF only you enjoyed it.

[Eric Ifune]

All my old bottled and Vintage Madeiras are standing. I've some new bottled, nonvintage wines (i.e. The Rare Wine Co. Historic Series) and a few Colheitas horizontal since it's easier to store that way in my cellar.

[Marco D.]

I lie mine down, but reserve the right to change my mind in the future.

I don't buy the high acidity in the wine deteriorating the corks. There any many high acid wines like German Rieslings, Loire valley Chenin Blancs, Alsace Reislings, Champagnes, etc that are stored for decades in the bottle and don't have issue with cork.

The Madeira's in the RWC Leacock Family tastings had been stored on their sides for decades with apparently no ill effects, perhaps it even helped, given their small corks.

As far as cork taint issues go, I suspect all Madeiras have been in contact with their cork at one point or another (during transportation), yet they seem to have the least instance of cork taint of any wine I know.

At this point, I'm just plain undecided as to how to store them...

[Moses Botbol]

I lie mine down, but reserve the right to change my mind in the future.

I don't buy the high acidity in the wine deteriorating the corks. There any many high acid wines like German Rieslings, Loire valley Chenin Blancs, Alsace Reislings, Champagnes, etc that are stored for decades in the bottle and don't have issue with cork.

Champagne is suppose to be stored upright as well.

[Marco D.]

Champagne is suppose to be stored upright as well.

If thats the case, I wonder if there is any evidence of cork issues with storing Champagne on its side.

[Moses Botbol]

Champagne is suppose to be stored upright as well.

If thats the case, I wonder if there is any evidence of cork issues with storing Champagne on its side.

You'll see cork issues and bad wine quite often on old bottles of Champagne.

[Peter Reutter]

I don't buy the high acidity in the wine deteriorating the corks. There any many high acid wines like German Rieslings, Loire valley Chenin Blancs, Alsace Reislings, Champagnes, etc that are stored for decades in the bottle and don't have issue with cork.
The Madeira's in the RWC Leacock Family tastings had been stored on their sides for decades with apparently no ill effects, perhaps it even helped, given their small corks.
As far as cork taint issues go, I suspect all Madeiras have been in contact with their cork at one point or another (during transportation), yet they seem to have the least instance of cork taint of any wine I know.

I think you are absolutely right, Marco.
All of my Madeiras are standing, in fact I designed my cellar in a way to allow for the bottles to stand, because as you say, Eric, usually it's easier to just lay the down. But I have had some bad experience with shrivelled and short corks leading to leaking bottles. Since then I stand all my bottles and often just overwax them or put a cap of shrink-foil on top to prevent to much excange of oxygen. I admit this might reduce the re-sale-value of the bottles, but I do not intend to re-sale them
As to the moisture of the corks: A couple of years ago I read a long article about the saturation of the atmosphere in the bottle neck keeping the cork moist enough. The articel had been written by the experimental department of the Geisenheim Research center (http://www.campus-geisenheim.de/en/home.html). They had done lots of research on this topic and concluded that the wine was fresher, leaner, more elegant with reduced contact to the cork. At the same time the cork maintained the closed environment in the bottle due to the high level of moisture transferred into the cork by the saturated atmo of the bottle neck thus keeping the cork expanded and (almost) airtight.
I did some long phonecalls after that read with the people from Geisenheim and -as regarding to the cork- they were not afraid of acidity or high alcohol levels at all, but they feared that the organic material of the cork would interact with oxydizing substances in the wine. This said, I don't think that there is much oxydizing potential left in Madeira wine, and that might be a reason why there seem to be so few problems with bad-tasting corks in Madeira wine.
Anyway, I keep standing them up as long as space permits me to do so, and if not, I might rather drink a few bottles
Peter

[Joe Dachille]

On my most recent purchase, 1945 Cossart Gordon "Duo Centenary" bual, the cork was very wet, so I conclude the bottle was store horizontally. I did have some trouble removing the cork, much more than other bottles I have had.

Joe D'Achille
Orlando

[Mahmoud Ali]

I had heard that Madeiras could be stored sanding up but I've never really known for sure how accurate that was so I've kept the few bottles of Madeira that I own on it's side.

It's unfortunate that there are so few Madeiras available in Edmonton and what good ones I see are over-priced. In fact the best wine store in town appears to have no Madeira on their product list. Where are the importers?

Mahmoud.