Are the shrink capsules important

[Runningwolf]

Getting back to the original theme of this thread, anyone who's ever given wine away will probably tell you that the first thing people tend to notice is the shrink wrap capsule on the top of the bottle and will comment on it. There's nothing like giving a bottle of wine to a non-winemaker and having them comment on the professional appearance of the bottle.

I'm with Tom on this all they way. Looks and beauty all the way.

Capsules do have little pin holes in the top of them. I will assist on holding a cork from popping sooner then what it would if it wasn't there but it won't hold it back forever. It certainly wouldn't be any competition for a rodents tooth.

Wine bottles filled by gravity or machine commercially have four or more nozzles each one needing adjusted leading one to be a ml or two off from another. Also with gravity fed fillers, to different people removing the bottles could have different fill levels depending on how fast they remove the bottle. Again we are only talking a few ML's. It looks like a lot in some peoples eyes when the difference is 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch below the capsule but in all reality we are only talking less then a teaspoon. Some people need not to sweat the small stuff.

 

[troutstix]

Some of the nicest commercial bottles in my cellar came without foil (i.e. Elevage, Cathy Corison). I tend to foil only the bottles that are to be gifts or brought to parties/get togethers. I see them as aesthetics only- ymmv
Mike

 

[JohnT]

Just to ring in on this..

I have heard that the foil on champagne is rather long to hide the fill level. This is because the disgorging process (removal of priming yeast after riddling) will lower the fill level inconsistantly. Some champagne houses would simply cover the fill level with an extra long foil, while other houses would add something back into the champagne (dosage) to bring the fill level back up.

As for wine capsules, it was my understanding that this was invented as a way to prevent cellar rats (the rodent variety) from chewing on the cork. Keep in mind that caps were always made of either tin or lead (which rats have a tough time chewing through).

 

[robie]

No doubt about that whatsoever, Tom. I was just having some fun pointing out that analog quantities can never be "equal" and only digital quantities can. For practical purposes, the volumes or levels are "equal" but not in a mathematical sense. Probably should not have mentioned it.

Oh no, I used a laser measuring device and found the levels to be within .00001.

Just kidding!!!

No, your are right, it's not rocket science, but the idea is when you see ten bottles of the same wine and brand, all "very" close to the same level; then you see that eleventh one that is half an inch or more down, I would be concerned about leakage on that last bottle. This is a tip given to me by the head of the wine department in a large liquor store.

Now with my own, home made, home bottled wine, this tip may not be very useful.