ThePortForum.com

Last night I opened a bottle of very enjoyable port that I had been told was likely to be a bottle of Graham. The cork however revealed it to be Cockburn Vintage 19?7. I have read on this forum that by applying bleach to a cork it may be possible to clean some of the staining from the cork. Could someone advise how this is best done (dab lightly with a cloth, dip into bleach etc) or if there are any other methods that might help here. Thanks

Great question. I also want this answered.

Please could those making recommendations also say what methods have been tested and rejected, and why.

I've never tried bleach, but gentle rinsing/ cleaning in col water and allowing to dry completely often shows a little more than was visible while the cork was still wet after extraction, of you haven't done that already. Also use a bright torch to help read it.

I use Phil's approach as my first step - a gentle clean and a good torch. I find that often the torch will allow you to read the indent of the branding, which is sometimes clearer than the burnt lettering. I also check the cork regularly as it dries. Sometimes a very wet cork reveals less than a damp cork, which reveals more than a bone dry cork.

If that fails, i might resort to using household bleach. I'll use a very dilute solution (about 4 to 1 water to bleach) and immerse the branding I want to read in the dilute bleach. (That in itself is a challenge - a cork invariably wants to float with the side needing bleaching out of the liquid!) I'll leave it for around 30 minutes and then rinse and clean very gently.

Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. I'll repeat the process using gradually stronger solutions until, as a last resort, I'll drip bleach directly onto the obscured branding. This is a bit of a risk as the undiluted bleach seems to change the texture and composition of the cork and can leave it so pale and brittle it is difficult to read.

Bertie3000 wrote: ↑15:44 Sun 16 Jan 2022 Last night I opened a bottle of very enjoyable port that I had been told was likely to be a bottle of Graham. The cork however revealed it to be Cockburn Vintage 19?7. I have read on this forum that by applying bleach to a cork it may be possible to clean some of the staining from the cork. Could someone advise how this is best done (dab lightly with a cloth, dip into bleach etc) or if there are any other methods that might help here. Thanks

Do you have a rough idea of how old the bottle is? Assuming that the lack of a label rules it out being very young (so not a 2007 and 1997), Julian’s book suggests the only likely candidates would be a 1967, 1947 or 1927.

Thank you for your replies. I followed the method a couple of times. Whilst I did get a cleaner cork, so I can see this method would work, the missing number remained hidden on this occasion. I have a second bottle of this port and have pasted images here in case anyone can shed any light on this. The bottle is brown when held up to the light.

Hi Bertie, I don't think I can see any more than you on the cork there currently. You're probably aware that the candidate years for a Cockburn 19x7 would be 17, 27, 47 or 67; I don't think the bottle looks old enough for 1917, plus the number spacing on the cork looks unlikely (though not impossible) for that. Sometimes shining a bright torch at an angle onto the cork might pick out additional hints. Also, your second bottle looks as though the wax doesn't come all the way down the side, so you might be able to read part of the cork through the side of the bottle, and if you're lucky, the part you want to know. My best guess would be '47 based on the look of the probable age of bottle and cap.

Before I read Phil’s post, I independently concluded it was most likely to be a 1947.

Do try Phil’s suggestions of the torch held at various angles to the cork. Sometimes you can make out the indentation of the number even though the branding is obscured by the red blob.

I've used hydrogen peroxide to good effect, although it's rather slow.

It takes the natural colour of the cork almost to white, and also takes out dark surface decay on the cork. As it has no effect on the charcoal of the branding, the raised contrast makes reading the cork easier.

Difficult corks are sometimes easier to read when held underwater BTW..