Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Got an e-mail for 1980's bottles recorked by the chateau, guaranteed not to be corked. Any thoughts, the wines were about $175/bottle

Welcome, Rer - tell us more about yourself.

I don't see how the chateau could guarantee that the wines aren't corked, as the new plug could certainly be the one to introduce taint to the equation.

And Ducru had taint in the cellars during the mid-1980's. You can't fix that with a new stopper.

Sounds sketchy to me.

I had the 1982 this year, bought within the past year.

It was memorable.

Exactly what vintages are you talking about?

AR

1986, 1988, and 1989

What Tom said. Ducru had cork taint in the entire cellar in the late '80s, and replacing the cork won't remove TCA that is already in the wine.

What exactly are the terms of the guarantee? Money back if it's corked? Who decides if it's corked? And how reputable is the firm?

I must admit that, if I received an attractive offer like that, I would probably look at Cellartracker notes.

AR

That's a great idea Alex, though I'm not sure what percentage of CT users would identify a corked wine, especially if mildly corked or if they were not familiar with the flaw. I could see such a circumstance leading to a note that the wine was closed or dumb, though recent notes like that on a 25-year-old wine should be a giveaway that something is wrong.

Looking at the CellarTracker notes on the '86, they are all over the place, but a significant number of recent ones describe a tired, austere wine and a few describe TCA. Notes on the '88 are better, though this was still in the TCA era for Ducru. Here's a note from Jeff Leve on the '89, which sheds some light:

From recorked bottles, this was a clean machine. I asked Bruno Borie how he found 2 clean bottles out of all the tainted bottles. He explained that during recorking, they destroyed all the tainted bottles, which was a massive percentage of the wines they had in their cellar. They saved just the good bottlse. Medium bodied, tobacco, cassis, earth and cigar box driven, this bottle was all about its classic Bordeaux style and charm. This is fully mature. There is no reason to wait to pop a cork.

Here is a description of the process from Bruno Borie the owner of Ducru-Beaucailou:

1. Careful removal of the bottles from the cellar: the bottles are placed in an upright position, transferred to the re-conditioning room and stood up (4 to 12 hours) to facilitate the precipitation of any sediment that might be contained in the neck of the bottles.


2. Cleaning of the outside of the bottle, in particular the external part of the neck and the upper surface of the cork, with an alcohol-imbibed, sterile cloth.


3. Uncorking: mechanical removal of the cork under a nitrogen blanket.


4. Quality control: checking of the cork (to detect any possible aromatic anomalies) and, if necessary, tasting of a "spray" of the wine.


5. Precise topping up: the topping up wine is introduced into to the bottle via a flexible tube under a nitrogen blanket. The bottle used for topping is from the same vintage and from the same lot as the bottles to be reconditioned. Each bottle used for the topping up is opened under a nitrogen blanket, tasted and then preserved under nitrogen until the entire bottle is used.


6. Careful cleaning of the inside of the bottle neck, with vacuum removal of any bits of cork that might remain from the initial opening of the bottle.



7. Adjustment of the SO2 (sulfur dioxide) level.



8. Recorking under a blanket of inert gas (nitrogen): the corks, bearing the château stamp, the vintage, and the date of the recorking. These are held mechanically, so as to avoid any contact with the hands of the operator, and then mechanically inserted into the neck of the bottle by means of a bit, suited to the diameter and length of the cork.


9. Laser engraving of the bottle with the date of the recorking.


10. The bottles are then maintained in an upright position (12 to 24 hours), allowing the cork to regain its initial size once inside the bottle neck, thereby ensuring an airtight seal.


11. The reconditioned bottles are then returned to the cellars where they are lodged horizontally.


12. Retrieval of the bottles from the cellars for shipment: inspection of the visible part of the cork, capsuling, and labeling of the bottle (with mention of the date of recorking on the back label) and crating.

Very interesting attempt by M. Borie to salvage the reputation of Ducru during these troubled years. And a meticulous process. But I didn't see anything about subjecting the contents of each bottle to an analysis of TCA level. I'd pass on this proposition. There are many other younger and older vintages of Ducru to enjoy without this risk.

Stuart