I have been noticeing on some of my older bottles of wine espeacially
on the clear glass bottles that there is a bit of blueish gray color
between the cork and bottle neck.. My wines are sulfited and I'm not
really noticeing any off tastes in the wine yet, but am concerned...
These are some heavier fruit wines that have been in the bottles for 3
full years and are really starting to get good... Any advice,
sugestions, preventative measures welcome...

On Dec 19, 9:54 am, wrote:
I have been noticeing on some of my older bottles of wine espeacially
on the clear glass bottles that there is a bit of blueish gray color
between the cork and bottle neck.. My wines are sulfited and I'm not
really noticeing any off tastes in the wine yet, but am concerned...
These are some heavier fruit wines that have been in the bottles for 3
full years and are really starting to get good... Any advice,
sugestions, preventative measures welcome...

I have seen similar things with some port bottles. My first question
is: what type of corks are you using? my second question is: is it
possible that you left a wine residue on the top of the cork? Once
the sufite reacts off, any remaining wine on the outside surface of
the cork could certainly mold up if mold is in the air. Remedy
options 1) clean the corks and bottle tops with b-brite or something.
Possiblly use a light solution of bleach as a last resort 2) remove
the corks and replace them with new corks. Before removing the old
cork, use a 10% bleach solution to kill anything there. Let the
bleach stand wet for 10 minutes, then rinse well. This will prevent
contanimation into the new closure.
If you are really worried, option 2 is the most conservative, but 1 is
pretty easy and you can do them all at once.
BTW, how do you know that it is mold? Maybe it is mildew. Maybe it is
dried seepage past the cork? you could see the latter since it is a
clear glass bottle.

I have seen similar things with some port bottles. My first question
is: what type of corks are you using? my second question is: is it
possible that you left a wine residue on the top of the cork? Once
the sufite reacts off, any remaining wine on the outside surface of
the cork could certainly mold up if mold is in the air. Remedy
options 1) clean the corks and bottle tops with b-brite or something.
Possiblly use a light solution of bleach as a last resort 2) remove
the corks and replace them with new corks. Before removing the old
cork, use a 10% bleach solution to kill anything there. Let the
bleach stand wet for 10 minutes, then rinse well. This will prevent
contanimation into the new closure.
If you are really worried, option 2 is the most conservative, but 1 is
pretty easy and you can do them all at once.
BTW, how do you know that it is mold? Maybe it is mildew. Maybe it is
dried seepage past the cork? you could see the latter since it is a
clear glass bottle.

It could very well be mildew... They have a bit of a mildew smell to
them?? There really is no sepage... What I'm noticeing is along the
cork on its sides. The top of the corks are dry and appear fine. They
are the best real corks I could get from st. pats... Put in with an
Itialian floor corker.
I like your sugestion on useing bleach. I fill my bottles with a
small hose and it is possible I had wine residue along the neck of the
bottle and that is molding/mildewing?? Do you usually wipe the inside
of the necks down before you sink the corks?

On Dec 19, 2:58 pm, wrote:
I have seen similar things with some port bottles. My first question
is: what type of corks are you using? my second question is: is it
possible that you left a wine residue on the top of the cork? Once
the sufite reacts off, any remaining wine on the outside surface of
the cork could certainly mold up if mold is in the air. Remedy
options 1) clean the corks and bottle tops with b-brite or something.
Possiblly use a light solution of bleach as a last resort 2) remove
the corks and replace them with new corks. Before removing the old
cork, use a 10% bleach solution to kill anything there. Let the
bleach stand wet for 10 minutes, then rinse well. This will prevent
contanimation into the new closure.
If you are really worried, option 2 is the most conservative, but 1 is
pretty easy and you can do them all at once.
BTW, how do you know that it is mold? Maybe it is mildew. Maybe it is
dried seepage past the cork? you could see the latter since it is a
clear glass bottle.

It could very well be mildew... They have a bit of a mildew smell to
them?? There really is no sepage... What I'm noticeing is along the
cork on its sides. The top of the corks are dry and appear fine. They
are the best real corks I could get from st. pats... Put in with an
Itialian floor corker.
I like your sugestion on useing bleach. I fill my bottles with a
small hose and it is possible I had wine residue along the neck of the
bottle and that is molding/mildewing?? Do you usually wipe the inside
of the necks down before you sink the corks?

OK. now I am confused. you are saying that the offending substance is
on length of the cork, and you can see it through the bottle. I
thought it was on the end. Bleach wont help you, since you cant get
the bleach there. You're sufiting your corks, right? Are you using
the natural corks? I use the natural corks for my port because
supposedly they were 7 year corks compared to the shorter life
aglomerated corks that I normally use. I must say, however, that the
aglomerated corks don't give me the problem like the other natural
corks, since the natural corks i get aren't of the highest quality.
try a new cork. I don;t think you can grow mold or mildew between the
cork and glass. I'll ask around, but if the cork is clean and the
glass is clean, there is nothing there to grow. hmmmm....

On Dec 19, 2:58 pm, wrote:
I have seen similar things with some port bottles. My first question
is: what type of corks are you using? my second question is: is it
possible that you left a wine residue on the top of the cork? Once
the sufite reacts off, any remaining wine on the outside surface of
the cork could certainly mold up if mold is in the air. Remedy
options 1) clean the corks and bottle tops with b-brite or something.
Possiblly use a light solution of bleach as a last resort 2) remove
the corks and replace them with new corks. Before removing the old
cork, use a 10% bleach solution to kill anything there. Let the
bleach stand wet for 10 minutes, then rinse well. This will prevent
contanimation into the new closure.
If you are really worried, option 2 is the most conservative, but 1 is
pretty easy and you can do them all at once.
BTW, how do you know that it is mold? Maybe it is mildew. Maybe it is
dried seepage past the cork? you could see the latter since it is a
clear glass bottle.

It could very well be mildew... They have a bit of a mildew smell to
them?? There really is no sepage... What I'm noticeing is along the
cork on its sides. The top of the corks are dry and appear fine. They
are the best real corks I could get from st. pats... Put in with an
Itialian floor corker.
I like your sugestion on useing bleach. I fill my bottles with a
small hose and it is possible I had wine residue along the neck of the
bottle and that is molding/mildewing?? Do you usually wipe the inside
of the necks down before you sink the corks?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

There needs to be air for this to grow, replace the corks or bottles.
Sometimes the mold that they make the bottle in will have a ridge
inside too, you can see it on clear bottles. If the cork does not
expand fully and make intimate contact with the bottle this can
happen. Don't worry about cleaning necks when inserting, the cork
will do that on it's way in. If you replace corks swab out the area
where the mold was growing with sulfite.

Joe

I've had this as a result of a high-humidity problem. Cork exterior
surfaces and at the cork/bottle contact point rim showed some growth
of something. No leakage around the cork was visible.

My problem stemmed from too much humidity. It was the summer, and I'm
lucky enough to have an area that's temperature controlled, but the
way I control it doesn't also give me humidity control. So in the
summer, my wine was being stored in a very cold sauna!

I gave the cork surfaces a light brush with a chlorine solution, then
made sure that I kept the humidity down where I store my wine using
"Damp-rid" (any dampness reducing product would likely work. Haven't
seen the problem come back.

Rob

On Dec 20, 12:45*pm, Rob wrote:
I've had this as a result of a high-humidity problem. *Cork exterior
surfaces and at the cork/bottle contact point rim showed some growth
of something. *No leakage around the cork was visible.

My problem stemmed from too much humidity. *It was the summer, and I'm
lucky enough to have an area that's temperature controlled, but the
way I control it doesn't also give me humidity control. *So in the
summer, my wine was being stored in a very cold sauna!

I gave the cork surfaces a light brush with a chlorine solution, then
made sure that I kept the humidity down where I store my wine using
"Damp-rid" (any dampness reducing product would likely work. *Haven't
seen the problem come back.

Rob

I hear that's the reason they came up with capsules; wine was stored
in caves and dampness was common. Nothing was going to grow under
that lead seal....


Joe