preconceptions

[whirligigwitch]

Is it very snobbish of me to assume that any wine that comes in a screw top bottle will be cheap and nasty plonk?

It's not, it's actually a pretty nice Pinot Grigio, but I expect my wine to have corks. Traditional, I am.

Comments

[buzzy-bee.livejournal.com]

These days it doesn't ring true that screw top = crap but I have to say I *prefer* my wine to have a cork as well. A lot of very good NZ wine is screw top these days though and IIRC something like 25%+ of Aussie wine is (much of it very drinkable).

Somehow its not the same though.

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

I have read in a few different articles recently about how wines in boxes (which I realize is not the same as screw-cap like you're talking about) are much better than they used to be. I don't know if screw-cap follows the same trend...

[http://users.livejournal.com/robin__/]

It does indeed. I've read about both about boxes and screwcaps recently. It seems the only thing keeping cork around is tradition--screw tops are better on all counts, they just have a lousy rep.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Er, no, you're not being snobbish about screw tops: they keep wine a lot better than natural cork... Which is becoming quite rare in Champagne bottles sold outside the English-speaking countries, as the modern controlled-release closure prevents messy squirting and catastrophic de-fizzing on opening.

Of course, you lose the theatrical effects on opening a bottle. So us Brits won't touch 'em.

Nile

er, is that too much information?

[custard-kisses.livejournal.com]

About 40% of our estates in NZ now produce twist top instead of cork to prevent trichloroanisole cork taint that ruins about 5%-10% I think it is of wines. I love them because you can reseal them :-)

[juptonrd.livejournal.com]

A lot of wineries are going to screw tops to prevent cork taint.

[webhill.livejournal.com]

Kinda. Screw tops are very in right now. You can get some damn fine, mighty pricey wines with screw tops.

[jpmccusker.livejournal.com]

I think that a lot of wineries are taking a "wait and see" approach. They don't know yet if a wine will last for long enough in a screw top, so I imagine they have bottled a few with it and have set it aside for a later comparison. The same thing is true with plastic stoppers, which have gained acceptance here (and makes collecting corks for trivets and such more difficult). Most local wineries and mid end vinters (like Rosemount or Opal, from Oz) are using them here, but there are still a lot of traditionalists here. Most CA wineries use plastic stoppers for their low end stuff (like Beringer) but not somewhere like Mondavi.