For The Love Of Port

I've recently bought a few bottles of port and madeira with damaged wax capsules. The bottlings are fairly recent (all within ten years or so) so the corks should be fine. Also, no sign of leakage. However, it would be good to reseal them if possible.

Is there a certain type of wax I should buy? I'm hoping someone will tell me it's simply a case of heating the can over the stove and dipping the top of the bottle in.

Any help or advice greatly accepted, and sorry if this topic has been recently covered on the forum. Thanks.

Philip

Philip Harvey wrote:I've recently bought a few bottles of port and madeira with damaged wax capsules. The bottlings are fairly recent (all within ten years or so) so the corks should be fine. Also, no sign of leakage. However, it would be good to reseal them if possible.

Is there a certain type of wax I should buy? I'm hoping someone will tell me it's simply a case of heating the can over the stove and dipping the top of the bottle in.

Any help or advice greatly accepted, and sorry if this topic has been recently covered on the forum. Thanks.

Philip

Some experts in wine bottling will tell you that wax capsules (made from, as far as I have been able to discover, ordinary sealing wax, the kind that used to get signets pressed into them on envelopes) is only cosmetic, and has little or no ability to protect the contents of a bottle or the corks themselves. I have been advised that this step would be a waste of time and money by the same persons.

Although the romantic in me cringes at this, I have to admit the credentials of those I got this info from.

Best, John Trombley

I can't be certain but I think most of the VP I seen in the cellars in Gaia did not have wax or lead seals - as far as I know the cork provides the seal and the capsule is just for effect, and possibly even invented to disguise wet or displaced corks :?

Derek

Derek Turnbull wrote:I can't be certain but I think most of the VP I seen in the cellars in Gaia did not have wax or lead seals - as far as I know the cork provides the seal and the capsule is just for effect, and possibly even invented to disguise wet or displaced corks :?

Derek

And also to protect from insects and rodents in the old days? I think they are useful if you have a traditional cellar.

I thought someone, on an almost identical thread, was trying to get a supply and test it out. Who was it, and any luck?

I have obtained a supply of bottle sealing wax from British Wax.

Their formulation has a slightly rubbery characteristic, which doesn't bond to the glass very well, but is almost impossible to chip.

It comes in small slabs that you can cut up with a heavy kitchen knife, before melting in an old bean tin.

I also now have a lifetime's supply of 10mm glass spheres for ullage correction when re-corking.

Both available if anyone needs a supply.

Tom

I have to admit that my interest in resealing is purely aesthetic - I just don't like the look of those chipped capsules in their storage bin.

Tom, I'll drop you an email regarding the wax. And thanks.

From what I know, sealing wax forms a hermetic seal. However since it's expensive and troublesome to rid the bottle of, few producers use it anymore.

I have seen both sides of the argument for years. I have tried sealing wax and straight parafin (used in candle production) to reseal bottles. I don't know whether or not it would prevent bottles from ultimately leaking for the long haul, but it did work on some Madeira and two bottles of VP I had that were leakers. I did not keep them more than a year or two after the resealing but, nary a drop leaked in the mean time.

Experiment and please report back whatever you do find.