'seeing' vintages printed on corks

[Giles W]

I have several unlabelled and unembossed bottles of vintage port in my cellar which I can roughly guess the decade of by the shape and way the bottle is made. Sometimes when I shine a torch through the neck I can see the name of the port. Does anyone have any secrets as to which light source is best? LED, sodium, UV etc.

Any help greatfully received.

[Moses Botbol]

SureFire Flashlights will do the trick.

http://www.surefire.com/

[Andy Velebil]

I would also suggest one of the rechargable Surefire lights. High output flashlights use up a ton of batteries if you don't get the rechargable kind. I like the little Surefire Scirion (sp?) light. small, powerful, and works great.

[Tom Archer]

I recently got a multi element white LED torch (US: Flashlight) which is surprisingly good for checking levels - it has also proved it's worth for reading corks

Tom

[SEAN C.]

Surefire or equivalent flashlights are they best!.. try to get something over 125 lumens ...I have used my Surefire many times to see through glass that would have been impossible to see through with a normal flashlight ..a 5 D cell battery Maglite only puts out 116 lumens ..less than a 3 inch long two battery Surefire light which can put out as much as 500!