Reddit mentions of CorkPops Original Wine Opener

1966 Chateau Lafite Rothschild

This was originally bought in futures and has been held in only two different cellars since. You’ll see from pictures the bottle condition is good, but more importantly the fill level is excellent.

I did some prior research to opening this. ’66 was a decent year for Bordeaux, but nothing outstanding. Most suggestions and reviews had this as ‘drink’ a number of years ago.

We opened both wines using a corkpop original (https://www.amazon.com/Cork-Pops-CECOMINHK08859-CorkPops-Original/dp/B0006IJV0Q/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_79_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S8HKRHZ0J3KGJZE90XTQ). We’ve found these work excellently with very old bottles, sliding brittle corks out with ease and keeping them intact.

We decided to decant to remove sediment. The wine poured from the bottle with definite browning, but appear a good claret colour in the decanter (pictures).

First nose and taste had some corked elements, but everyone found these burned off quickly. It then started to show very dark prune and clove notes. The classic leather, tar and pencil shavings smells came through. One guest described it as girls leather bicycle seat haha

The palate showed acidity, but fruit was lacking for the most part, more of a steeped tea flavour. It was something special, but would have definitely been better a decade ago.

We drank this alongside oven roasted veal chops with a cherry balsamic reduction, side of farro with pine nuts and capers.

1986 Penfolds Grange Bin 95

This is my sisters birth year and was bought 15 years ago at a small wineshop in Quebec. Again, the bottle was in fantastic condition with a superb fill level.

1986 is rated as an outstanding vintage for Grange, named the best year of the 80’s. Penfolds has awarded ’86 a red star rating, which is given to those wines which are considered an exceptional vintage.

I checked my local wine store retail price for Grange, they sell the 2014 vintage for $711.

We decanted this and took our time with it.

The nose didn’t give away much, some fruit and alcohol, we found it fairly muted overall.

The taste on the other hand! Lets just say everyone was blown away. This wine had length that persisted on your palate for a good couple minutes. You could saver every sip and let it play in your mouth. Major elements of liquorice, cedar and smoke. You basically had to chew it down, and I say that in a great sense. There was a good balance of fruit that came out over time.

The wine continued to evolve and left our party disappointed we had to split it 6 ways. We all agreed this was outstanding and one of the best wines we have all ever tasted.

Opened a bottle of 1977 vintage port this past weekend. Took three tries to get get all the cork. I'd say it held up pretty well.

I wonder if those CorkPops would work well with these old corks?