Care of Old Wine
A mature wine can be simply magical—offering nuances and textures unimaginable in a young wine. To ensure the wine's quality once you receive it, we suggest some steps to allow the wine to show at its best... and to maximize your enjoyment of it
A wine that has reached its plateau of maturity can be simply magical—offering nuances and textures unimaginable in a young wine.
Such perfection may take decades to achieve, as the wine slumbers in a cool, dark place, awaiting the moment for which all great wines are born: to be enjoyed by someone who will appreciate all that it has to say.
For more than two decades, The Rare Wine Co. has searched the world for majestic old bottles, purchasing them only after careful inspection and deep knowledge of the wines’ provenance. And we pack and ship them with equal care.
But even after these prized bottles are delivered to our customers, we ask their patience. Just a short trip by Federal Express or UPS is enough to disturb a wine’s sediment, upsetting its balance for days or weeks. To uncork your bottle just after arrival can be a disservice to the wine... and to you.
Below, we will suggest some steps to allow your wine to show at its best... and to maximize your enjoyment of it.
An engraving from Andre Simon’s 1926 book Bottlescrew Days, a chronicle of English wine drinking in the 18th century. In it, Simon proclaims “The corkscrew is to the cork what the key is to the lock.
Who invented the corkscrew? No one knows. It is obvious that very soon after the use of cork was introduced, the corkscrew, or as it was known at the time, the ‘bottle screw,’ must have been introduced: otherwise the glass bottle would not have been the restful home of the wine, but its lifelong prison.."
