For The Love Of Port

So I have acquired a bunch of Ferreiras from the 1983-1994 range. They all come with the tops encased in a plastic/wax that is very brittle and just breaks up into a hundred tiny pieces as I chip it off. Every bottle opening must be done outside or in the basement--the stuff gets everywhere. Hard to complain too much though because I've never had a cork issue at all yet with one of these.

Question: What is the best method to seal the top yet make opening not so painful? Is the Ferreira method just worth it?

If it wasn't for that wax, the corks would just fall out over time with Ferreira. They had a foil layer too I think. I like the wax as is and helps authenticate how old the wax is as it ages. The plastic capsule can be harrowing to cut off (the spherical style).

I clear/cut off the wax in the sink, only the top needs to cleared, and not 100%. As long as it wipes clean with a rag before pulling the cork I am fine.

I stick the bottle into a trash can, then bang of the brittle wax so it doesn't make a mess in the sink or the counter.

The worst offenders are those bottles that have brittle wax over foil - the wax pings everywhere.

I find the best way of dealing with these is to put clingfilm over the top of the bottle and then cut the wax, foil and top of the clingfilm off with a sharp knife - that tends to contain things..

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:50 am The worst offenders are those bottles that have brittle wax over foil - the wax pings everywhere.

I find the best way of dealing with these is to put clingfilm over the top of the bottle and then cut the wax, foil and top of the clingfilm off with a sharp knife - that tends to contain things..

Interesting solution.

I do the same as Andy. I put the bottle in the bin so the wax top is below the top of the bin and then gently tap the wax with a light hammer. I find that if I hold the wax close to the area being hit with the hammer I knock off the wax in larger pieces and generate less of a mess.

Sounds like the same brittle wax top as the buying op Souzas have.

I use a trash can like Andy and Alex, but I don't bother banging the wax off. I just cut/chip it off with the blade part of a waiter's friend. As Moses said, you don't have to remove all of it, just enough to be able to extract the cork.

I do it outside or in a plastic bag. I just send the corkscrew through the capsule and remove the cork. All the top wax comes with the cork and I peel off the rest after cork removal.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 12:41 pm Sounds like the same brittle wax top as the buying op Souzas have.

As much as I cleaned and looked I found pieces of those corks for months after they were all gone. They seemed to get into everything.