# Wax vs. foil for bottling?



## Gekko4321 (Jul 11, 2011)

I love the look of melted wax on certain wine bottle tops, but I have read that the wax 'seals' the top and that one needs some oxygen to pass through the cork to allow the wine to micro oxygenate and age properly. Is wax a bad way to go to properly age your wine? If so, does bulk aging help? Does foil allow micro oxygenation to occur while waxes do not? Thanks!


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## Runningwolf (Jul 11, 2011)

Hey Gekko, first off welcome to the other forum. Glad to have you here. I think you'll find about the same answers as Wade gave you over at FVW but I will post them here so maybe you can get some other opinions. Once again it's good to have you join us.

"Th e PVC capsules are really just for looks but they do help hold back a cork that is ready to blow making that a good or bad thing as instead the bottle could break. Ive had a few bottles that the capsules saved my cellar on. The wax will prevent further aging so bulk age it well before doing so but on the other hand the wax will help if you have not the greatest cellaring conditions such s temp swings and or mold as it will prevent premature aging and moldy corks. Pros and cons to everything out there. You just have o pick the poison that best suites you. 

Most of us bulk age our wine for a year or 2 and then bottle them and at that point sealing them in wax would be great! "


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## Runningwolf (Jul 11, 2011)

Gekko, another thing I did once is you can get wax in hobby stores that fit in glue guns. I put a dab of wax on the shoulder of the bottle then got one of those stamps they sell for embossing the wax. They also use this method for sealing envelopes for invitations. It actually looked pretty good on the bottle and if you dipped your bottle in wax you could probably use one of these stamps on top of it. Just an idea.


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## Gekko4321 (Jul 11, 2011)

Thanks for the advice Wolfman! I posted here cause my last question went unanswered and was looking for alternate thoughts. I received different advice verbally telling me the amount of cork-introduced oxygen was negligible so really trying to get a more definitive understanding of what to do.


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## djrockinsteve (Jul 11, 2011)

Ok another corner heard from. I age my wines well before bottling. I use synthetic corks on all of my wines and those that I dress up I will use a foil capsule. Never got into wax.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 11, 2011)

djrockinsteve said:


> Ok another corner heard from. I age my wines well before bottling. I use synthetic corks on all of my wines and those that I dress up I will use a foil capsule. Never got into wax.



...and as with wax these do not breath either and they are used by many wineries


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## mmadmikes1 (Jul 11, 2011)

Wine will still age in the bottles. Micro oxygenating is not the only process that happens during the aging process. Long molecules in strings form and change the wine, for the better.


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## Zwetschgen (Jul 12, 2011)

I agree with Mike. The wine will still develop in the bottle, maybe not to 100% but 99% is good enough for me. I suppose there are those of you out there that make wine and cellar it for decades but I generally only save a couple bottles from each batch of wine I make. I tend not to worry about the corks and aging, it allows me to worry about the funny smell coming off my next batch! That being said, I've used wax, it's a pain, it's a mess, but it looks pretty cool. I've had best results from using a spoon and ladeling wax over the top rather than dipping the bottle in. If you dip the bottle you get a more solid uniform look, but I wanted more of a Maker's Mark kind of look that when the top of the bottle is filled it will spill over the sides. I've also used the PVC shrink wrap capsules, they never shrink uniformly for me. I've tried using steam, a kettle, and over direct heat, but nothing yet. I haven't slowly dipped them into boiling water yet, maybe that has better results. All of that aside, I generally don't seal the top with anything unless I am presenting it as a gift, typically I write on the top of the cork the year and type that is it, just my experiences.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 12, 2011)

Zwetschgen, I use an encapsular heat tunnel now for putting on shrink capsules but before that I always used a heat gun with great results. A hair dryer does not get hot enough. There is also a large population on here that swear by dipping in boiling water. Bottom line, try pratices that do work and then chose the best for your applications.


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