Spain: Marqués de Riscal – Opening Old Bottles in La Rioja

In this video, Marqués de Riscal’s technical director, Francisco Hurtado de Amézaga opens two of the winery’s bottles from 1958 and 1964 with Port tongs. As in Porto with vintage port, the idea is to apply heat on the neck of the bottle with already heated tongs, then to immediately after, apply cold water on the same section of the bottle. The heat causes the glass to dilate while the cold causes it to shrink. The violent change causes the glass to crack and break away with a perfectly clean cut.

Click here for James’ tasting report on Spain.