I have a few bottles that I want to age, but I’m thinking the wax cap will interfere. Does anyone scrape the wax on bottles they plan to age?
As a way of preventing oxygen transfer… from my recollection wax has been shown as useless, so don’t sweat it any more than you would the traditional foil
Reasons for removing it? Get the annoying part out of the way early, and it might not shatter as much as older wax, making cleaning up the mess easier
Reasons for Keeping it? It might help resale value as a sign it’s not been tampered with / coravined, plus others might like it. Or you may find the easiest way to get rid of it, is to drive an unfancy corkscrew right through it when uncorking
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The wax used on wine bottles is oxygen permeable.
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I can’t think of a good reason to remove the wax now.
I actually like wax, in my experience the corks tend to be in much better condition. Maybe wax doesn’t directly affect oxygen transfer, but preserving cork integrity should limit unwanted gas exchange
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wife says the same thing about me!
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So she uses a waxed cork? 
What would be the problem?
You want a compete seal.
The idea that the cork is somehow supposed to be permeable is an old wives tale. You can encase your bottle in plastic and it will be fine. Probably better than it would be with a shitty cork.
Moreover, as mentioned, the wax is permeable. You should get rid of it while it’s still a bit soft because depending on the wax, it can get really brittle. It’s a horrible thing to do to bottles.
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Thank you for asking. I was thinking about the same thing today.
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You’d have thunk this would be debunked by now.
There are people who scrape the wax off young bottles before putting them into storage for long aging?
That is really hard to imagine actually happening.
I get that you can theoretically do it, and as long as you (or your estate!) don’t ever try to sell it then it probably doesn’t make any difference. But nobody actually does that, do they?
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Wax will not interfere with aging
That’s not what they said on the Grecian 2000 / Just for men adverts. I’ve been conned!
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Cork is permeable to oxygen. Just very slowly. It does happen and it does make a difference.
To the OP: wax can help prevent corks from drying out in low humidity conditions so there’s no harm and potentially some good in leaving the wax on.
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