I am not a German wince connoisseur and have come across some bottles of late 1990s spätlese which looks quite high quality. But there is this sticky goo coming out of the cork

Is this Riesling end-of-life and undrinkable please? I dont think I can get the cork out unless anyone has any suggestions as to how this should be done? Or will this be too sweet whatever I do with it?

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:34:03 PM UTC-5, news.rcn.com wrote:
> I am not a German wince connoisseur and have come across some bottles of late 1990s spätlese which looks quite high quality. But there is this sticky goo coming out of the cork
>
>
>
> Is this Riesling end-of-life and undrinkable please? I dont think I can get the cork out unless anyone has any suggestions as to how this should be done? Or will this be too sweet whatever I do with it?

Sounds like simple seepage (once wine with residual sugar seeps, fluid and alcohol evaporate, leaving....mostly sugar). Seepage is never great, can imply warm storage, but Riesling with RS is likely to survive better than most wines(and some were just overfilled- I see more weepy Germans than anything else). I'd just temper expectations and dry.

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:40:03 PM UTC-5, DaleW wrote:

should read "I'd just temper expectations and try."

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:41:04 PM UTC-5, DaleW wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:40:03 PM UTC-5, DaleW wrote:
>
>
>
> should read "I'd just temper expectations and try."

Thanks for that, but how??? Do I have to get a cork puller with two straight prongs which go either side of the cork and twist? Is there a trick? Or just yank it out any way and decant and drink immediately? (I have never heard of decanting any wine from a region where some/all wine sparkles)

I am not conversant with German /Alsace wines at all I am afraid!

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 2:05:16 PM UTC-5, news.rcn.com wrote:

>
> Thanks for that, but how??? Do I have to get a cork puller with two straight prongs which go either side of the cork and twist? Is there a trick? Or just yank it out any way and decant and drink immediately? (I have never heard of decanting any wine from a region where some/all wine sparkles)
> >
> I am not conversant with German /Alsace wines at all I am afraid!

The 2 pronged cork remover (Ah So or Butler's friend) would work. But if you don't have one just open with a regular corkscrew. If cork breaks just filter through a cheesecloth, nothing to fear.
Occasionally a good German will have a little CO2 spritz, but non-sekt German won't be sparkling

Thanks for that! I juct czeched and this stuff goes for $125 a bottle!! So I was a little apprehensive about both opening it AND leaving it closed (if it may get any sweeter with age)

Hugo Ripanykhazov > writes:

> On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:41:04 PM UTC-5, DaleW wrote:
> > On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:40:03 PM UTC-5, DaleW wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > should read "I'd just temper expectations and try."
>
> Thanks for that, but how??? Do I have to get a cork puller with
> two straight prongs which go either side of the cork and twist? Is
> there a trick? Or just yank it out any way and decant and drink
> immediately? (I have never heard of decanting any wine from a region
> where some/all wine sparkles)

I've usually been able to open such bottles with a normal corkscrew.

I think you said this was a Spaetlese, in which case you shouldn't
think about it as being analogous to a sparkling wine.

On the other hand, if you are lucky you are in for a great treat!

Hugo Ripanykhazov > wrote in
:

> I am not a German wince connoisseur and have come across some bottles
> of late 1990s spätlese which looks quite high quality. But there is
> this sticky goo coming out of the cork
>
> Is this Riesling end-of-life and undrinkable please? I dont think I
> can get the cork out unless anyone has any suggestions as to how this
> should be done? Or will this be too sweet whatever I do with it?

It is quite normal for aged German Rieslings to have some "goo" outside of
the cork. Most wineries bottled their wines with a very high fill.

Being an spatlese from the 90's, it should be ready to drink. Difficult to
tell how would it be unless you tell us the producer and the vineyard.

An Spatlese from the 90s should have absorbed the residual sugar and could
be an excellent wine. Not that you should be in a hurry. Spätleses are
sweeter in their youth, and then the residual sugar integrates with the
rest of the wine and somehow gets absorbed when it comes to how it tastes.

But all depends on the producer, the vineyard, and the year.

Regards,

s.

On 21.01.2014 20:42, Hugo Ripanykhazov wrote:
> Thanks for that! I juct czeched and this stuff goes for $125 a bottle!!

So I was a little apprehensive about both opening it AND leaving it
closed (if it may get any sweeter with age)
>
Do let us know how things turned out!

--
Charles Milton Ling
Vienna, Austria
Gpg4win encryption available