Those wax seals drive me bonkers! I came across a lot of them in Portugal very recently and it took me about ten minutes to open every bottle... Pity the poor sommelier indeed!
On the subject of wax dipped bottles, in the old days before Diam when screwcaps were the only TCA risk-free solution for long term aging but the (European) sommeliers were all anti-screwcap. I had the idea of bottling with screwcaps and then covering it with wax. Voilà, at one stroke combining the impracticality of wax and the unpopularity of screwcaps. I was sure it would be a winner especially if I could make a really unstable natural wine to go with the packaging.
years ago my lovely wife went off on a diatribe midway through an enjoyable wine dinner. her target was wax-dipped bottles and what a pain they were to open. however at that moment we happened to be sitting directly next to eric dunham, the primary source of our waxed bottles. ;->
Those wax seals drive me bonkers! I came across a lot of them in Portugal very recently and it took me about ten minutes to open every bottle... Pity the poor sommelier indeed!
I have never before seen a Champagne bottle that was dipped in wax. And I hope to never see one again!
On the subject of wax dipped bottles, in the old days before Diam when screwcaps were the only TCA risk-free solution for long term aging but the (European) sommeliers were all anti-screwcap. I had the idea of bottling with screwcaps and then covering it with wax. Voilà, at one stroke combining the impracticality of wax and the unpopularity of screwcaps. I was sure it would be a winner especially if I could make a really unstable natural wine to go with the packaging.
Sadly, common, and enological, sense prevailed.
Robert, that's the sort of cutting edge thinking that should lead you directly to the C-level executive suite!
years ago my lovely wife went off on a diatribe midway through an enjoyable wine dinner. her target was wax-dipped bottles and what a pain they were to open. however at that moment we happened to be sitting directly next to eric dunham, the primary source of our waxed bottles. ;->