Jaw-dropping video- why recork at chateau?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CceQ04E ... e=youtu.be

Really interesting, Dale - thanks for posting. While we've all heard of this process, I'd never seen it before. (For no particular reason, I was a little surprised that it was done in a dining room of a home.)
I was expecting to see the bottles topped up with wine; perhaps that's only done with large collections and when producer does it.
I was also expecting a quick sniff as a rough gauge of the soundness of the wine. It seems to be to be an opportune time to do so. Perhaps, however, the lingering smell of the bad cork makes this a useless task.
Thanks again.

I assume the seepage was so bad that recorking could not be avoided. At least I would hope so.

As a completely anal retentive process engineer I would have a second person at the ready with the inert gas to douse the neck as the cork is about to be extracted and fill the head space the second the cork was completely removed. I would want a cork approve by the chateau itself to be used for the recorking AND I would have the recorker on the table/workbench at the same location at the cork removal to avoid any chance of handling damage. It goes without saying that I would have a complete recorking process failure mode effects analysis (PFMEA) completed before I even considered undertaking the task... but that's just me.

I actually had to do an emergency recorking of a 1916 Rieussec I bought from a private collector for a tasting a did a few years ago. The cork had shriveled to the point that when placed on its side it started dripping. The wine was still sound though. I simply found a cork, sanitized it with oxyclean (I don't remember if I had wine preserver gas on hand at the time), and did the deed. The wine was still perfectly fine (well, as fine as a 1916 Sauternes is going to be) several months later when I did the tasting.

Just to be clear, I think these people are insane.

I agree with Dale. Topping up should be done. Using winery over-run corks would be a no-no. He mentioned CO2 in the gas he used. Nitrogen or argon only should be used.

“Cult Wines International”? Seems to me only a “true” wine collector (someone who just has to have a 1982 Lafite in their cellar) would buy from them or participate in their auctions. The online bidding process at Cult Wines International seems quite interesting, bidding starts at a $1.00 and then they let it “fly from there”.

Salute

Just to be clear, I think these people are insane.

Thanks for clearing that up, Dale! I'm with you.