when purchasing really old bottles of wine with questionable drinkability, check that the lip isn’t stained or covered in mildew. if it is, try wiping it off with a warm cloth to see if it seeped through the cork (either from the bottle OR into the bottle). also, if you can see the cork at all, check it for damage or stickiness. this will be a good indicator if any oxygen made it into the bottle. then, when opening with a corkscrew, keep in mind that this cork is no doubt very sensitive and may crumble easily, so do your best to screw deep and pull out slow (that wasn’t supposed to sound sexy). if you have succesfully passed steps 1-4, know this: age = time, so do yourself the favor of letting this bad boy breathe for at least 45 minutes. apparently, old wines that smell and taste like vinegar do not always remain that way, when given the chance.