External mould on corks

[odyssey]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice on a bottle that has a small amount of external mould on the top of the cork.

It also appears to have leaked a tiny bit into the box it was stored in (visible small red patch), although other than the presence of mould you wouldn't know it had leaked just by looking at the top of the cork. The sides of the cork (as seen through the neck) do appear a bit streaked/cracked.

Would the fact that it had leaked a little be an indication that the mould may have travelled all the way through the cork into the wine?

What do most people do when they come across a little mould on the top of a cork?

cork1.jpg

Looks to be cracked on the left side of this image:

cork2.jpg

PS the wine in question never had a foil cap. It was bottled by Leconfield after one of those wine blending nights they did back in 2007 - it was the group's chosen custom blend, therefore explaining why it may not have been recorked to the quality of their regular wines. For that reason if the resulting wine is mouldy, sending it back is not really an option! Still would be disappointing to lose a chance at tasting our own poor attempt at a blend

Cheers

[griff]

Mould can often grow on corks in humid conditions. Have a look at a burgundy cellar. Red Bigot has a good pic of one But I think your wine should be sound but there is never any guarantee, especially with corks.

cheers

Carl

[odyssey]

Holy Spores, Batman!

Just saw the photos. Youch!

[TiggerK]

Probably not much more likely chance of cork issue than any otter wine really. Just pop it and see!! Good drinking!

Cheers
TiggerK

[Christo]

ive had mould on the outside of cork on a couple of German riesling i bought... the wine was freaking awesome though.... so no it should not affect the wine.

c

[monghead]

Relax, that mouldy stuff is fine... harmless.

[griff]

Relax, that mouldy stuff is fine... harmless.

What's some aspergillus between friends?

cheers

Carl

[Red Bigot]

I agree it shouldn't affect the wine.

BTW, I only just noticed the new "Attachment" feature of this version of the forum software, saves uploading images to another hosting site. Check out the "Upload Attachment" tab next to the Options at the bottom of the post window when creating or editing a message. I hope Gavin has plenty of storage budget.

[odyssey]

Thanks all, as I hadn't seen external mould before (only internal mould... euck) I didn't know what to think, but because there was definite leakage inside the box I thought it may be all the way through the cork. Only one way to find out then, and will do so this afternoon!

Yep I used the attachment option to attach those pics, very handy. I noticed that it also adds its own scrollbars in the post to prevent large images stuffing the forum up, as usually happens in forums. Very smart!

[Brucer]

I had this problem with a lot of Skillogalee 1987 shiraz, I was buying aged from Stephen George.
I freaked out, but Stephen convinced me there was nothing wrong, and it would not effect the wine.
He was right!

Cheers
Bruce

[rens]

I also had this issue with a bottle or 2003 Torbrek Run Rig. Had a good bit of mold on it (about 20 cent size by the time I noticed it). This bottle also leaked past the cork. I said a lot of bad things about buying wine at auction and cracked it open. No point in waiting 15 years to see if it was stuffed. End result was a stunningly youthful Run Rig. Therefore I think it will be OK.

[daz]

Haven't encountered it for a long time, like 20+ years ago when the Mansfield Hotel's Liquor Stop barn (now 1st Choice) was owned by the Giudice family. Without airconditioning and little insulation it wasn't unusual to find some mould under the capsule - it gets rather hot and humid here in summer. I don't remember the mildew having had any negative impact on the wines in bottle, just cleaned it off before removing the cork.

Cheers

daz

[Daniel Jess]

Crack it and see, or cellar it for longer and then see. Either way, don't just throw it out - you never know til you open it if it's still ok or not!