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I opened a Dow 1985 that came to me as a share of a recent lot. It was the very leaky one, with a heavily stained label, selo, and a mid-shoulder fill.

Opened, mind you, and not uncorked, for there was no cork. Beneath the capsule and the intact and soggy selo, there was an open bottle with sediment to the top of the neck. I decanted the wine and there was plenty of sediment of normal texture, but NO CORK. I found the port a reasonable red albeit light color, very clear, with a little bit of bricking. The nose is not bad after the bottlestink blew off, but the taste is weak, celeried, and a bit off. It's simply not very enjoyable. I am hoping it will improve in the decanter, but here is the question...

The wine has aged against the capsule for 27 years. The capsule material is somewhat weighty -- tin? lead? Is this a risk and should I drink any more of it? When did Dow stop having lead in its capsules?

Weird question for you guys, but what would cause a bottle to have a capsule and a selo, but no cork? Happened to a dow 1985 yesterday =)
Like · Jeff

GRAHAM'S Port Wine Hi Jeff. That is odd. If you have a photo of the bottle and or the label please send it to us - blogadmin at grahams-port dot com. Also the number off the selo would be a help. We will need to check with colleagues, so it may be Monday or even Tuesday before we can work this out. Thanks.

g-man wrote:what would cause a bottle to have a capsule and a selo, but no cork?

Could it be that something just went wrong at the bottling line? That's the only thing I can think of. Very weird though, not something I've ever seen, or ever hope to see.

g-man wrote:Weird question for you guys, but what would cause a bottle to have a capsule and a selo, but no cork? Happened to a dow 1985 yesterday =)

Was the selo under or over the capsule?

This might seem like a dumb question, but did you check inside the bottle after decanting the wine? I once had a Croft 1966 with a cork that had dropped into the wine but the capsule maintained a perfect seal.

I wonder how reliable bottling machines were in the 1980s; having seen how modern ones work I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens from time to time (even if no more than once every 10,000 bottles)...

The selo was under the metal enclosure and entirely intact. It was placed on over an uncorked bottle, and the metal then placed overtop the selo. I searched high and low for the cork (I had a croft 1963 where it had fallen in) but this cork was nowhere to be found.

g-man, i sent you some additional documentation regarding this item.