I have a bottle of 2005 Fattoria Il Poggio Incantate Chardonay (Bianco Toscana)/ Fattoria Il Montecarlo from Lucca. We brought back from our honeymoon to Tuscany in 2006. I found recently that there is a sticky, blackish goo oozing (in very small quantity) from underneath the foil cork sealer (sorry, I don't the technical name) at the bottom of the seal. The bottle has been stored horizontally in the wine rack in our cellar since it's purchase in 2006. Any thoughts on the wine's condition as a result of this "goo?"
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
The strange "goo" at the bottom of the capsule of your Italian Chardonnay is in fact not at all uncommon. For a number of reasons, wine may seep from inside the bottle along the sides of the cork and leak from beneath the capsule, taking on various colors. This usually occurs if the wine has been subjected to hot conditions during shipping or storage as a higher temperature causes the wine to expand. For anyone living in places with very hot summers, leakage of this type is a familiar problem: a warning sign that the quality of the wine may have been compromised. Even though there is much more awareness of this issue, a very small percentage of all wine, due to cost and logistical challenges, is handled under temperature control at every stage after leaving the winery; in other words, in a container, on a truck, in a wholesaler's warehouse, a delivery vehicle, and in a retail shop. Could your bottle have suffered any heat exposure during the trip home (in a car, for example?). Have the storage conditions always been cool and stable during the past five years? Since the seepage is very small, it could simply be that the cork no longer creates a good seal, and the best approach is to drink the wine soon, particularly since this Chardonnay is not intended for lengthy cellaring.
