If you sanitize corks wouldn't you have to wait for them to be completely dry before you use them..?

I figure after corking let the bottles rest upright for 3 days to a week before laying them down.. Right..?

What is the hole point of resting your bottles (bottle shocking) then laying them down..? Is it to let the air seep threw the cork then by laying it down it will keep the cork from drying out..?

There is some different thoughts on corking bottles. On Jack Keller's web site he recommends corking, then sitting them upright for a few days. I don't. So I e-mailed him a few years ago and asked him what his thoughts were on the issue since I hadn't done it for years and never had a problem. Apparently, especially if the the wine is not degassed properly you can blow a cork or bottle if they are tipped upside down immediately. The theory is sitting them upright allows the gas to seep out as the cork is drying. Then tip them upside down.

My wine gets it's last dose of chemicals about 6 weeks before I bottle. I add oak (if desired), potassium sorbate, and metabisulphate all at that time. Stir the wine so the chemicals mix, and install the air lock. When the bubbles stop, in approx 6 weeks, I bottle as described in the earlier post.

Boil about a quart of water, let it cool to about 100 degrees, add 1 crushed campden tablet, stir it in, add my 25 corks (5 gallons batch), cover the pan and take it to the wine room. The corks are in the solution for about 15 to 20 minutes. I pull the corks out with a large table spoon because they are hot. Cork my bottles and put them in a wine box upside down. Yup, upside down. Only had one cork problem in over 35 years. Sometimes I have a couple of extra corks that I soaked that don't get used. I used to throw them in the draw. I'm frugal. One time I pulled a couple of those corks out and used them. Bad idea. I had problems with a couple of bottle of wine and suspect that was my problem. I never saved those corks again and never had another problem. All of that said, if you are going to mechanically degas your wine with a stirring wand on an electric drill, I would sit my bottles upright for a day or two.

When you get ready to bottle I wouldn't buy a cheap corker. Some of those corkers you hold in your hand and supposedly can push the corks in or or it grasps the neck of the wine bottle and pushes in the cork basically take the fun out of the hobby. Corkers are expensive now. I bought my corker/capper, a bench type, back in 1973 for 18 bucks and it still works great. Unfortunately that company went out of business in about 1973. It was called the Everedy corker/capper. It had a bezzel that fit over the bottle lip and squeezed the cork as it was inserted. Very easy to clean. In fact I dip the bezzel in the campden water as I am corking to make sure it doesn't have pieces of cork on it. Little pieces of cork can fall into the bottle and spoil the looks of a pretty bottle of wine.