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I've a question. This weekend I am planning to open a Croft 1955 VP. I have aquired two bottles of this wine at an auction earlier this year.

One bottle has a cork that is slightly pushed out of the bottle (at one side only).The cork seems to be coming out of the bottle by about 2 milimeters at one side. The capsule of the bottle is still intact. The level of this bottle however, is excellent (well into the neck).

The other bottle looks better, corkwise (cork is perfectly in place), but has a lower level (barely into the neck, about 1,5 centimeters lower than the first bottle).

Since I don't have much experiende with bottles of this age, I would like to ask you all: which bottle would you open, and which bottle would you leave untill a later date (and then, for how long)?

Thanx!

ps. No, I am not considering opening both bottles this weekend

I would have to taste both first to let you know without doubt. But if I had to make a punt I would go for the lower fill despite the cork positioning.

griff wrote:I would have to taste both first to let you know without doubt. But if I had to make a punt I would go for the lower fill despite the cork positioning.

Thanks for your advice for now! I'll try and see if I can make out any other differences between the bottles, but if not, I will indeed go for the lower fill bottle first.

And depending on how that one turns out, I just may have a good excuse to open the next bottle in the not so distant future

Or check the colours. If one is paler than the other, the paler one is likely to be more evolved and should be opened first.

Gerwin,

From your description it is possible that the cork on the first bottle isn't being pushed out but might never have been pushed all the way into the neck. If this is the case, and with the fill level you describe, it is likely to have a perfect seal. The way to tell is to remove the capsule and look for signs of seepage.

Alex advice on colour is good provided you can see through the glass sufficiently to determine a difference between one bottle and the other.

If the colours look the same and the cork looks good you can open either bottle.

Whichever one you open I hope it is fabulous!

Derek

DRT wrote:Gerwin,

From your description it is possible that the cork on the first bottle isn't being pushed out but might never have been pushed all the way into the neck. If this is the case, and with the fill level you describe, it is likely to have a perfect seal. The way to tell is to remove the capsule and look for signs of seepage.

Alex advice on colour is good provided you can see through the glass sufficiently to determine a difference between one bottle and the other.

If the colours look the same and the cork looks good you can open either bottle.

Whichever one you open I hope it is fabulous!

Derek

Thanks for all the advice!
I've checked the colour of both bottles against one another last night. The bottles are not that dark, so I could see fairly well. There doesn't seem to be a difference between both bottles colourwise. Also I have not notices any signs of seepage (on both bottles). I will go for the lower level bottle this weekend.

I will let you all know how it turned out next week!