Why Stelvin Can Be a Problem...

[Mahmoud Ali]

The "problem" is this: you want to serve a wine blind so you leave the dining room to be out of sight to open the wine and maybe decant. The sound of the stelvin says to your guests: new world wine, not very old, inexpensive, or an Australian wine. Dang!

So now I make a fuss about taking the corkscew, a paper towel to wipe the top of the bottle under the capsule (on very old wines), along with the bottle in a paper bag, and head into the bathroom and close the door.

Happy New Year........................Mahmoud.

[Mike Hawkins]

Make sure you break the seal earlier and then partially screw on again. There wont be any noise then.....

Mike

[Mahmoud Ali]

That's a good idea Mike and it'll certainly work at home. However, when I'm at my friend's place the wines are usually in the foyer or edge of the living room. Even if I open the screwcap ahead of time I will have to make a pretense of taking the corkscrew with me.

Mahmoud.

[morph_associates]

Jancis Robinson taught me (in London) and had much to say on this. There are some notes in her '95 edition book, though I can't remember what it's called.

If it's served in a decanter, it's easy - everything can be done ahead of time. If you want a 100% perfect blind tasting, your guests aren't allowed to see the top of the bottle (even if it only JUST peaks out of the brown paper bag, or whatever you're using), because they will be able to tell if it's a stelvin or cork. Decant and cover to keep the airflow around the wine limited.

It not using a decanter, you can use a brown paper bag (having opened the wine earlier) but just make sure your second hand (the one NOT holding the bottle as you pour) is around the neck to hide the seal type.

Alternatively, you can really mess with your guests (and I often do, just for fun...haha) and stick a cork in the top of a stelvin bottle while it sits on the side table waiting to be sampled, then (as if you were a magician) pour while hiding the neck of the bottle with your second hand. Gets them every time. Well, nearly... but it's very funny!

[Mahmoud Ali]

Stuffing a cork in a screw cap bottle, classic. Fooling the guests, priceless. I love it.

When not in a decanter we always use the brown paper bag and make every attempt to conceal the neck and capsule not to mention the shape of the bottle.

Mahmoud

[Muscat Mike]

Sometimes I decant a bottle at home into another bottle, informing the participants that this was done. Thus they have absolutely no idea what sort of bottle it came from. Decanting into a Stelvin bottle is best as it is the easiest to carry.
Mike.

[morph_associates]

Sometimes I decant a bottle at home into another bottle, informing the participants that this was done. Thus they have absolutely no idea what sort of bottle it came from. Decanting into a Stelvin bottle is best as it is the easiest to carry.
Mike.

Neat idea, I like!