Those Damn Wax Capsules....

WINE TALK
21

Sounds like a technique developed by Mr Miyagi.

22

Wax on wax off… Ravaneau wax caps are just so dry and brittle.
If the hot towel or blow torch method works - I’ll bite as well.

23

I was always frustrated by this and then I saw the hot towel suggestion in another thread. It worked perfectly for me.

24

I’ll have to try the heating methods…still, be much easier if they were screwcaps instead…

25

What wines did you have Paul?

26

Port tongs.

27

1999 Clos, Valmur and Butteaux.

They all still looked young and fresh for 13 year old wines, with a good acid spine and a citric and honey note to them. The Butteaux perhaps the best drink now, but still really needs 5 more years.

The Valmur perhaps the least impressive of the three, it was quite big looking but seemed like it was lacking in something, with the flavors being a bit muted and closed. The Clos was flat out great though, really classic chablis, and very focused and fine, needs 10 more years…

Asked one of the guests (who knows good wine, but not Burgundy) how old she thought the wines were, she said 2010 or 2011!!! [wow.gif]

28

I used to just drill through the wax and pull the cork before I had a little run in with a Sineann bottle. Sineann always waxed their bottles with a wax you couldn’t cut off or melt off. In the middle of a pinot production, Sineann switched to a glass enclosure, covered with a twist off tin cover and then put their signature impregnable wax on top of that. I spent 15 minutes trying to get the cork screw into the cork. And before you ask, no, it wasn’t the first bottle of the night.

29

Just when I thought that wax over cork was pretty dumb, Randy comes along and shows me it ain’t so dumb after all. Not compared to wax over a screwcap.

30

Agreed that’s making it deliberately impossible.

31

Hate wax capsules. I catch myself avoiding opening those bottles and reach for something else.

They are pretty to look at though.

32

Doesn’t work for me. [berserker.gif]

33

[welldone.gif]

34

I have only opened a few bottles with wax capsules and most of those have been Belle Glos Clark & Telephones. They have a little pull tab that works half the time. The rest of the time I just drill through and pull it out. I try to wipe it a little before pulling the cork all the way out.

35

Love Raveneaux. Love Heredia GRs. Hate their damn capsules.

36

Paul,

Not a bad day’s work, I’d say. A bottle of the Valmur I opened in February seemed a lot more giving than what you describe here. Sadly, I have no Butteuax but there should be a lone bottle of Montée de Tonnerre somewhere in the dark parts of the cellar.

37

When visiting with Randy Dunn and his daughter Kristina I noticed that she had an unusual way to deal with the wax. She held the bottles by the base and then slammed the neck into something firm, but with some give. In this example, she used a thick, plastic tub (like a busboy would carry). A few whacks and most of the wax around the cork and lip was long gone.

38

Mike,

Whenever I see Raveneau Clos next to the Valmur, I always think how much more I like the Clos…

The Butteaux and MDT are usually my other picks out of the lineup, usually right up there in quality and reasonable value.

39

I use an Ah-Soo right thru the wax, and then to clean the lip. Easy enough.

40

The Raveneau wax is so brittle and thick though, it goes everywhere not matter what. Other wax I find isn’t quite so bad, like on say the Foillard’s.

Think I’ll try the heat methods next time.