A few top wineries in Tuscany, which produce Brunello di Montalcino, carry out a special service for their customers for the best vintages of the Riserva, for example this is done by Biondi-Santi. This service is called "Ricolmatura" and means "refill" (refilling). It takes place on the first Saturday in June, is published by a "notice" and strictly regulated, and is intended to help prolong the life of the great vintages. To this end, the bottles sent to the winery are carefully examined to check the condition of the cork, the level of filling in the bottle and the quality of the wine by sensory analysis. If the result is positive, the bottles are filled with the wine of the same vintage, a new corking is made and a certificate is issued. The first time this was done was in 1927, when the bottles of Riserva 1881 and 1891 were filled and freshly corked; in 1970 and 1985 the vintage underwent the same operation again. The bottles of Riserva 1925 and 1945 were freshly corked twice, in 1970 and 1985. A similar practice exists at the Australian winery Penfolds, here it is called "Penfolds Wine Clinics".
In the past, you needed a wealth of encyclopaedias and specialist literature to keep up to date in your vinophile professional life. Today, Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one of my best helpers and can rightly be called the "bible of wine knowledge".
Prof. Dr. Walter Kutscher
Lehrgangsleiter Sommelierausbildung WIFI-Wien