Recorking a 50 year old bottle wine

[Jerry D Mead]

Chateau Yquem is a very great (arguably the greatest)dessert wine in the world. According to an old wine book in my library with a vintage chart that goes back to '48...it was a better than average vintage in Sauternes.

Still, fifty years is a very long time for any wine to survive...though I hasten to add that I have tasted several Yquems of such age or older that were magnificent.

The problem with recorking, especially if there is some ullage (loss of wine through either leakage or evaporation or whatever) is that additional oxygen will be introduced into your treasure. On the other hand...doing nothing can result in the same problem.

I can tell you what I would do if it were my bottle. I would assemble 10-12 of my very favorite friends for a special meal (you could even do it as a Dutch Treat meal at a restaurant)and use this grand old bottle as the reason for the gathering.

If it's great...you're a hero and your friends will be talking about you and your generosity forever.

And if it's over the hill? It will still be fun...the suspense leading up to the opening...your taking the first sniff and sip as the host. (And you could always have a more recent vintage of which you're confident standing by as a back up.)

The only way I know for an individual to recork is to track down a home winemaker in the the area who owns a hand corking device...and it wouldn't hurt to quickly give it a couple of spurts of a nitrogen/argon gas called "Private Preserve" which will help displace the oxygen just before you jam the new cork in.