I hate vin jaune. I mean, the wax

[RicRios]

Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff.

Like, this 1999 Domaine de Montbourgeau L'Étoile Vin Jaune from Nicole Deriaux (620 ml $70, imported by Rosenthal). It's all it's supposed to be, and then some. Beautiful golden color, that amazing dryness, deep maderized flavors... needless to say, accompanied by wonderful cubes of dry salame di Felino. I suddenly even forgot about Berni M.

But here's the rub: no matter what I do, I can't avoid the damned yellow crumbs. I usually partially pull the cork thru the wax, blow air, pull a little more, blow air, repeat, and hope for the best. No way. There's always those tiny little yellow dots inside the juice.

Next time I'll buy a blowtorch and melt it. Unless, of course, I hear some better advice.

[winedoctor]

Good suggestions already. I do what you do, but a bit different. I plunge the worm through the wax and pull the cork part way out. Then, keeping the part of the waiter's corkscrew that rests on the edge of the bottle in place, I rotate it which easily cracks off the extra wax coming up over the edge. Then I blow all the bits away. I also use a damp cloth towel to wipe which helps get some of the left over small dust and bits. Then I gently pull the cork the rest of the way out. Kinda a pain but really only takes a couple minutes more than a regular cork and I haven't had any "floaters" in the wine since I've been doing it that way.

Good luck and cheers!

[Midlife]

Don't get me started on this. I'm a fan of the Cargasacchi brothers (California Central Coast growers and winery owners). Peter's Cargasacchi label is fine but Mark's newer Jalama label Pinot comes with a practically impenetrable capsule that looks like wax but I think is really a variety of Kryptonite. I like his wine but know I'm in for a fight to get it open.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Some of the older Behren's and Hitchcocks had this same kryptonite, can't cut it, can't pull it, what is it?

[Midlife]

Actually, now that I think of it, Mark bottles his Pinot either with or without the kryptonite capsule depending on the retailer's request (or at least he used to). I vote no!

[PolarBear]

A friend brought a bottle to a rather good size wine party where it was an effort to keep enough wine opened as everyone arrived. I've never been so pissed off at spending so much time to get juice out of a bottle. Seriously considered breaking the neck off (well almost).

[waferthin]

As an aside, what else could one pair with vin jaune?

[Delucacheesemonger]

Warming the wax with warm water does help. Cheese is great with it, old Comte, Gruyere, even chicken cooked in a wine like it, goes well with the wine. Drank a 62 Chateau-Chalon about a month ago with the appropriate cheeses and it was perfect. As an aside do we all know that the 620 ml bottle is named a 'Clavelin', after Hubert Clavelin's relative who designed it.

[RicRios]

Baguette slices with prosciutto on top. Prosciutto sliced at 1/10th the thickness of the baguette slice.
Or even better: replace Prosciutto with Pata Negra. Sliced at 1/8th.

[winedoctor]

There are two classic pairings with vin jaune, although many other things work...

- Comté cheese, also made in the Jura

- Bresse chicken with Morels cooked in vin jaune

Both are stunning accompaniments to the wine.

[georgempavlov]

The classic pairing would be Comté cheese. I think it would also work nicely with chicken with morels, or something like that. A little cream wouldn't hurt, either.

[Brad Ballinger]

I just hate vin jaune. :o)

[Sam B]

I used to suffer through this problem with Cotat Sancerre, but found that running hot tap water over the wax for about 30 seconds softened the wax just enough to avoid crumbling

[SteveG]

What a helpful idea. I've also suffered from yellow wax particles...even after trying to carefully cut around the top of the bottle.

[Steve_K]

You could circle the rim with a knife, as you would do with foil - but then screw through the wax and lift the 'cap' of the seal off with the cork?
Or just pour through a fine-seive, heh