Seepage and Aging?

A couple of cases just arrived last week. Wasn’t sure what it was because I don’t usually have wine shipped this time of year. It looks like it came cold-chain to Florida and then up here. Was a bit of a cool spell last week with cloud cover and temps around 80, so I wasn’t overly worried.

Opening the first case, it shows immediate signs of seepage - labels have some red streaks, one bottle with a slightly protruding cork. Opened that one first and it had full signs of seepage along the cork. I’ve opened up 2 more bottles since then and though they had no indication of cork movement, they both had fully soaked corks along the sides. Rather surprised based on the indication of cold-chain across the country and only 2 days on a truck with relatively mild weather for this time of year. I guess maybe the truck sat out in the sun one afternoon and just baked? Anything is possible.

The ones I opened have tasted fine. These are low end BR bottles I bought mostly to drink now, but did want to store some of them for later. Curious what one thinks the likelihood of being able to age these bottles? A couple of years? 10 years? What are the risks?

Personal I’d drink within 1-3 years

Testament to why I’d never ship during summer. Supply chain delivery issues can happen anywhere at any time.

1 Like

I plan to seep also, as I age.

1 Like

Hard to give advice without seeing pictures.
Another concern I would have is if I am storing them I really dont want wine stains in my cellar.

20210725_184735.jpg

If you authorized shipment, drink up.

If you didn’t, call the shop, ask to speak to the owner* about a replacement.

*or a manager…just sayin’.

Lol. Mr. Comedian

Heck with the cold chain. Post a picture of the hot chain…as in e-mail. hitsfan

That cork you took the picture of looks fine. Yes a little discoloration but nothing horrific. Still, I’d be worried based on the bottle that obviously seeped.

Bottom line is take the recourse you have. If you said thumbs up to shipping then the wine is yours. If the bottle you tasted was good, no harm in enjoying them now.

Like others, I basically ship nothing (except literally across town) during the summer. Too much risk and I have plenty of wine to glug in the meantime. My experience on temps in the 80s is that the inside of vehicles can get crazy hot at those temperatures. A couple of hours at 90+ degrees and your wine is toast. It does mean that your shipping windows are really short - maybe 8 weeks in the fall and the same in the spring. That’s how it is.

Maybe this retailer failed to read the Empire thread.

Depends

As ye age, so may ye seep.

1 Like

And keep a good cork.

Thanks for the commentary. I can’t remember asking about recourse with the supplier.

I opened a Donnhoff Kabinet 09 last night that had leaked a little in transit (and has since sat horizontal in my cellar for a number of years), it was perfectly fine.
If the other bottles dont have protruding corks or signs of leakage I think you are good to go for medium term cellaring.

1 Like

But, isn’t it not that uncommon for German Rieslings to seep (because they overfill the bottles sometimes)?

Umm, dunno, maybe,
this kabinet had lost about 3mm in the neck compared to the others and had obvious signs of leakage (which is why it got the chop). TBH I didnt know that German wines were over filled regularly.
Cheers

I have heard that Leroy does this with her red Burgogne wines. It is irritating because you cannot tell if this was the original winery issue or if the wine was overheated somewhere along the way. I would be suspicious of cold chain shipping during really hot weather. Too many variables. If in doubt, and these were not super expensive wines you wanted to hold on to, I would drink up soon.

1 Like