2016 Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay Watson Ranch

Community Tasting Note

spicy1 Likes this wine:

89 Points

Saturday, October 6, 2018 - Think I will review the cork covering on this bottle, in the hope that the folks at Arnot-Roberts read these reviews (I know that Bedrock winery does). Instead of a foil covering, this bottle is covered with a hard, white plastic material. When you try to get to the cork the
plastic material comes apart. Some in chunks, some in white particles, some in dust. No doubt some of it gets into the bottle for later tasting. There must be some advantage to using this material but I'm thinking it's not worth the mess.

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11 comments have been posted

Comment posted by wineotim:

10/6/2018 8:22:00 AM - Yes the wax is messy I agree. I noticed that Bedrock does too. Was this wine more Burgundian in style to you?
Comment posted by spicy1:

10/6/2018 9:19:00 AM - Winotim: I had a bottle back in May that I really enjoyed with a blend of rock and ripe apple--haven't had enough white Burgundy to compare. This bottle was a little less mineral driven and generic and that is part of the reason I didn't give it a real review. Have one more bottle that will break the tie--maybe next spring.
Comment posted by wineotim:

10/6/2018 9:43:00 AM - I will open my only bottle later this year, I think. Other taster seem to echo your thoughts on the generic style, will see.
Comment posted by Omar Khayyam:

10/7/2018 3:29:00 AM - Thx for the review! I just wanted to share on what in my experience is the best way to open these wax covered bottles. You hold the wax cover under warm water for 30 seconds, and then, when you use the small blade of your cork screw, the wax comes of in one piece like an apple peel and does not crumble. Took me a while to understand and before that I was equally frustrated with the wax!
Comment posted by spicy1:

10/7/2018 4:19:00 AM - Omar--thanks for the tip and I will try it on the next bottle. You are the second that has called the substance "wax". It seems much harder than wax to me--more of a hard plastic material. Did you use your technique on an Arnot-Roberts?
Comment posted by Omar Khayyam:

10/7/2018 8:33:00 AM - Yep, absolutely, I am a big A-R fan. Same style wax covered cork used by many new and trendy wine makers. They have a kettle kept on low heat and just dip the corked bottle in the molten wax and it hardens very quickly.

Same type of wax btw as used in old times for sealing letters and packages, the idea being that you would know if someone broke the seal, and having experienced the hard crumbles of these wax sealing, one finally understand the meaning of the expression “break” the seal.
Comment posted by Ben F:

10/8/2018 4:15:00 PM - Duncan showed me how best to deal with the wax closures at the spring pickup. Basically you heat the wax by cupping your palm over the top of the bottle and rotating the bottle back and forth with your other hand. Between the heat of your palm and that generated by the friction, you can pull out the cork together with the wax seal pretty cleanly.
Comment posted by spicy1:

10/8/2018 4:18:00 PM - Ben: Thanks for that. I will try it and also the recommendation to put it under hot water for 30 seconds and see which works best. But personally, I would just prefer a screw cap.
Comment posted by Ben F:

10/8/2018 5:08:00 PM - Sure. In looking again at my note, I'd rotate your palm rather than the bottle. Keeps the contents a little less shaken up...
Comment posted by Onthelees:

10/22/2018 8:12:00 AM - The other method is to pull the cork half way and then cut away the wax so none falls in the bottle. Then remove the cork altogether.
Comment posted by Musigny Max:

12/10/2018 9:40:00 PM - Just use the corkscrew the way you would for any other wine. Go right through the wax. There is no need to try to remove the wax before opening the bottle. I've never had any problems opening any wax covered wine bottles in using this method. As someone else mentioned, you can peel away some pieces of the wax once the cork is half-way out if you are afraid of it falling into the bottle once the cork is removed.