I believe the point is to prevent oxidation, but it does seem to run counter to the notion that cork is preferred because it allows for a very slow exchange of oxygen.
The Foillard wax, as you probably noted, is very brittle and messy, whereas Lapierre’s is soft and almost pliable. Either way, simply plunge the screw directly into the cap as usual - right thru the wax - and lift the cork out. For Foillard, do it over the sink because the brittle wax shards will otherwise go everywhere. Lapierre-style wax will maintain integrity and come right off with the cork. Either way, take care to blow off any little shards or loose bits just before you pull that final bit of cork from the bottle.
For myself, I prefer the Lapierre style soft-wax cap to any other type of cover. It’s easier to access and more convenient than foil caps, and - well - looks darn pretty.
Take a match and tip the bottle down towards it for 1.5 secondsish (you could do this over the stove too)…wax will turn “melty.” Then plunge the corkscrew like the wax isn’t even there. It will pull very clean 99% of the time, and it cools back in seconds. This prevents any of those annoying wax chips from falling into the wine.
So I’ve stood up my 30 year old bottle of Dunn Howell Mountain for two weeks to let the sediment collect on the bottom, and then I’m supposed to invert the bottle at the last minute to put the neck under hot water for a few seconds to soften the wax?
Does this strike any of the “run hot water over the capsule” set as a problem?
Either leave it vertical and run the hot water for a few seconds to spill over the wax then wipe your label clean or gently tilt leaving your sediment still at the bottom.
Why not leave the bottle standing, run a cloth under really hot water then wrap just the wax with the hot cloth. It would be kind of like prepping the skin on your face for a really close shave.
Well, Dauvissat uses them, too…and I’ve had a number of premoxed bottles. My understanding is that the wax does nothing to protect the wine, though some seem to think it does, and it even makes sense that it might.
If you have a torch you use for creme brûlée, in a few seconds that wax comes off easy and clean. And the point is that the wax provides a more reliably impermeable barrier than cork and foil. As noted above, premox is virtually unknown among wines with wax capsules. Also, if you buy wines with little or no added sulphur that you lay down, thank that wax when you remove it.
I just attended a Fourrier tasting with Jean-Marc Fourrier. He remarked that starting from the 2010 vintage he will begin using wax for his whites as well. Wax has less variability in the permeability when compared with foil and corks. Because the density of corks vary, wax has the benefit of being consistent.
No wax crumbs. Just pull the cork until it’s almost out, clean up all the crumbs at the top of the bottle, then remove the cork entirely. If it’s a relatively young wine you can even remove the cork at an angle so that if anything falls from the capsule itself it will not fall into the wine.