Wine director Drew Brady likens a 30-year-old cork to a 30-year-old person. Bodies, like corks, can feel physically sound when suddenly a moment of fragility comes along.
That’s the advice he gives his staff at Long Count, a new wine bar in Manhattan’s East Village that only pours wines aged for at least 10 years. That commitment is no easy task. Opening a wine with decades of age is risky: With maturity, corks become frail, and damage can result in anything from chunks to tiny remnants of the stopper in the wine. As for implements, there are two main tools for working with mature bottles: corkscrews and two-prong cork pullers.
Brady reaches for the tried-and-true corkscrew for wines up to around 15 years in age. His primary advice is to move slowly. Controlled movement doesn’t just keep the bottle steady — it allows the person opening it to attune to any cracks or fault lines in the cork that could cause breakage.
“Slow down. Don’t move the bottle around,” he says. “We’re not trying to wiggle a couch out of your apartment on moving day.”
Wines 15 and older require the two-prong puller, as the 15- to 30-year range is when a cork’s strength drops off, Brady says. To use the tool, place the prongs on opposite sides of the cork between the stopper and the inside of the bottle’s lip. Then, shimmy the tool to move the puller downward along the length of the cork. Once the prongs are entirely in, begin twisting and pulling upward. This tool is suitable for bottles of considerable age because the prongs encourage the cork to maintain its shape during extraction.
The best way to sense a cork’s strength is by practicing with younger bottles and noticing how an intact cork feels. Then, when opening an older bottle, anything that feels awry to you will signal a finicky cork. “Corks, they’re sneaky because you’ll get one that you’re pulling up halfway, and then you’re like, ‘Ooh, we gotta slow down here,’” Brady explains.
No matter the tool, Brady advises avoiding too much force or pressure: Allow the tool to do what it was designed to do, he says. “Apply the amount of intervention required to get the tool to start doing its tool thing, and then, let it do its thing,” he says. “Don’t become an accessory to the process.”
He also emphasizes the importance of keeping bottles still while uncorking. Moving the bottle can generate friction between the cork and the glass, which can lead to breakage with fragile stoppers. Twist the corkscrew or the puller, not the bottle. It’s also crucial to pull the cork vertically when extracting — a frail cork hitting the lip of the bottle will likely result in pieces falling off.
“The cork becomes a part of the bottle after it’s been in there for so long,” Brady says. “So any sort of movement to the bottle is going to agitate things, and any fault lines that may exist in there are going to be exposed.”
For even older wines, Brady says he has seen some restaurants and bars use highly involved — if not theatrical — methods. One involves using a flame and taking advantage of the pressure change generated by its heat while locking the bottle onto a wooden stand. “A lot of times you’ll see this with a tableside cart, which I’m sure is really fun for the guests,” he says.
But the average wine enthusiast with a few cellared bottles isn’t likely to have those advanced tools at their disposal. For those drinkers, Brady advises investing in a two-prong cork puller. Like the best people, corks require a bit of extra care with age.
The article How to Open an Old Bottle of Wine, According to a Sommelier appeared first on VinePair.