wineismylife 
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts: 12535
 | | 06-29-2005 03:01 AM |
| OK, tonight I opened a bottle of 2002 Marquis Philips Sarah's Blend. I've opened plenty of those so no problem. PURPLE opens this one and says "Look at the cork". I look at the top of the cork before it is pulled but after the "foil" is removed and see the top is light to medium purple in color. Uh Oh. There is seepage, right? We pull the cork and the bottom of the cork is deep, dark purple, almost crimson. Here is the weird part. There are no streaks of purple between the bottom and top of the cork. Not only that...we took a knive and cut the cork in half and the center throughout is "cork", no purple or wine color throughout. So riddle me this VC gurus...how does a cork get dark purple on the bottom, light purple on the top and ZERO purple in between? I'm getting ver klempf...discuss amongst yourselves.  | | | Joe-----Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. |
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Sacred Cow
Wine Thief
Posts: 2764
| | 06-29-2005 03:06 AM |
| You've heard of Parker bottles of MP, right? This was a PURPLE bottle.  Mike | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts: 11169
| | 06-29-2005 03:16 AM |
| Possibly it was shipped with a bottle a that broke and the spilled wine stained the top of the cork. | | | |
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CellarKeeper
Sarasota, FL
Grape Puncher
Posts: 870
| | 06-29-2005 03:53 AM |
| Or there was a little bit of wine that splash onto the top during the bottling process. | | | |
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Budman
Philly Suburbs
VinoCellar.com Extraordinaire
Posts: 23705
| | 06-29-2005 09:43 AM |
| Maybe it's just one of those unsolvable mysteries of the universe. | | | |
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wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts: 12535
| | 06-29-2005 01:19 PM |
| Board-O, the was no visible wine on the foil, label or the bottle prior to removal of the foil.
CellarKeeper, sounds plausible. I hadn't considered that one obviously. | | | Joe-----Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
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Tom
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2384
| | 06-30-2005 09:40 PM |
| Maybe they recorked it with a used cork. Eeeeewwwwww.  | | | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
VinoCellar.com Extraordinaire
Posts: 30915
| | 07-01-2005 12:39 AM |
| It's that old optical illusion: which end is purple? Did you look at it standing on your head. Try that and see if it isn't better. | | | |
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ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts: 4877
| | 07-01-2005 11:52 AM |
| there is a very logical expaination. this was one of those pretested bottles that sparky personally tasted. once the wine is found suitable, sparky reverses the cork, thus wine stains on both ends. ihow did you get a wine meant for parker?  | | | |
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wineismylife
Arlington, TX
Master of Wine
Posts: 12535
| | 07-01-2005 12:41 PM |
| Is that how he does it? I thought he just topped it off with kool aid myself. | | | Joe-----Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone. | |
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Edward Bowers
Palm Beach Gardens
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2072
| | 07-01-2005 01:11 PM |
| Think Cellar keeper has the answer. | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas (pretty fall colors here)
Master of Wine
Posts: 11297
| | 07-01-2005 02:44 PM |
| Cork Soakers? | | | |
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Budman
Philly Suburbs
VinoCellar.com Extraordinaire
Posts: 23705
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Pete
Left Coast
Wine Thief
Posts: 2990
| | 07-01-2005 04:22 PM |
| Having worked a few bottling lines, CellarKeeper has provided you the most logical explanation that I have seen happen. At KL, we would take the cork out and replace it before putting the foil on. | | | I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it. | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts: 11169
| | 07-01-2005 07:40 PM |
| Why would you take the cork out and replace it? | | | |
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Pete
Left Coast
Wine Thief
Posts: 2990
| | 07-02-2005 12:07 AM |
| Customers will return wine with corks stained at the top claiming all sorts of problems. Cheaper and easier to not have return the wine. | | | I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it. | |
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