Comments on: Giveaway: To Cork or Not to Cork, by George Taber http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/ wine talk that goes down easy Sat, 18 May 2013 23:46:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Giveaway: House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler | Dr Vino's wine blog http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-90988 Giveaway: House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler | Dr Vino's wine blog Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:39:49 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-90988 [...] families. The book has been nominated for a James Beard award for best wine book in 2007. (As is George Taber’s To Cork or Not to Cork, which we previously gave [...]

]]> By: Dr. Vino http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42822 Dr. Vino Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:58:54 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42822 Wow, what a great thread this turned out to be!

I went over to random.org and generated three numbers–Donny King, Darrel, and Nick, come on down! Well, at the very least, let me know your mailing addresses.

This was lots of fun. Check back soon for another giveaway…

]]> By: Julian http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42474 Julian Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:28:42 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42474 I must say, I’m not terribly attached to the ol’ cork. Not that Stelvin closures eliminate faults or bottle variation, but it’s nice to unscrew a bottle and not have to worry about that horribly disappointing, tell-tale damp cardboard smell…

]]> By: Tim http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42460 Tim Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:27:54 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42460 High quality cork will be the preferred closure for aging wine for the foreseeable future. For wines to be enjoyed soon after bottling, screwcaps and some new synthetic corks are the only way to go in my book.

]]> By: Bernie Bearnaise http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42454 Bernie Bearnaise Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:11:01 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42454 TCA’s can also be found in bottles with Stelvin closures but they can only feed on the cork itself and spoil the wine.

The wine ritual is somewhat of a Western tea ceremony. Cutting the foil below the glass collar and pulling it off with the knife. Take a cloth and clean any residue at the mouth of the bottle. Picking the dead center of the cork and poking it with the tip of the corkscrew and then gently twisting it in. Putting your forefinger over the lever and pulling up with the other hand to lift the cork slightly. If it is a long Bordeaux type it will require more augering. The trick is not to go past the bottom of the cork and pull it out in the rest of the way in one piece. I have the uncontrolable urge to smell the cork for any unwelcome signs of spoilage and then twisting it off the screwpull and standing it upright. The cork is often stamped with the crest or trademark of the winemaker which should agree with the label. On occasion you will get a surprise which tells you something about the wine that is not mentioned on the label. I had a cork the other day that was humourous and said Whooh Whooh Whooh Cough Whooh etc. Sometimes you will get the website address of the vinyard. I am quite attached to my corks and rarely throw them away to my wife’s chagrin as I have hundreds of them.

On the other hand I’ve brought a nice bottle to a dinner party as a goodwill gesture and had a corked wine which taught me to always have a backup. Natalie Maclean said that one of her Spanish bottles for Thanksgiving was corked. The statistics are as high as 2% so there is economic justification for the modern closures. When purchasing a wine from Australia or New Zealand I expect it to have the Stelvin type cap. They are easy to put back on if the bottle isn’t consumed in one sitting. They just don’t have the same crescendo of expectation and satisfaction as the old bark of the oak.

]]> By: Sal http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42415 Sal Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:13:33 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42415 I think corks are swell but more and more I like the convenience of the screw caps. We were traveling once and we forgot to bring our corkscrew travel kit but I just knew that nowadays we’d be able to find at least one decent bottle in the local wine shop with a screw cap and I was right. I’m all for better spoil-proof versions of new corks but I don’t hate the screw-tops as much as the average wine drinker. There are more important things in life to hate (like Yellow Tail ads and kids at wineries–sorry).

]]> By: nick http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42402 nick Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:00 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42402 Cork has a certain “je ne sais quoi” that is not the same with screw tops.

This being said, once I realize that the main difference is in my head, it is easy to get over it.

To add, my girlfriend makes pin on boards with corks. I hope to have stocked enough to sell them for a fortune when everything has switched over. Maybe people will be willing to pay a lot to get back that “je ne sais quoi” :P

]]> By: Erin http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42398 Erin Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:46:51 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42398 While I think that avoiding ‘cork taint’ by using screwcaps is probably a wise idea, I think it stands to take some of the fun out of wine drinking. I’m sure I’m not unique in this, but I have a wine ritual of sorts. I love picking out the bottle I’m going to open, getting the glasses out of the cabinet, admiring the label, and peeling off the foil. When I first started drinking wine, I used a generic “rabbit” corkscrew that I had gotten as a gift. Now that I’ve opened countless bottles (I must confess), I don’t need my training wheels anymore. I make it a point to use a manual corkscrew. It has become part of that wine ritual that is so important to me before that first sip.

So, I still say ‘love ‘em’ to corks.

]]> By: Luke http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42298 Luke Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:39:09 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42298 I agree there is something about tearing away at the foil and digging into the cork with a corkscrew, however, I could go either way. A compromise is always synthetic corks for the feeling of pulling it out, without the TCA.

Where I do draw the line though is screw tops on the bubbly.

]]> By: Chaz http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42035 Chaz Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:46:25 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42035 I think the idea is great, but that screw caps will never make a significant mark, at least not in my cellar. The aesthetic pleasure in pulling out a cork, especially from a bottle of red wine, (when the bottom is saturated with a pretty gradient of reds) is an unparalleled experience. Even synthetic corks don’t feel right, either, as others have mentioned.

I would be open to another closure system that avoided the problems of natural cork and TCA, but only if that was as truly pleasurable as cork.

]]> By: Tom Gunn http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42006 Tom Gunn Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:49:23 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-42006 I have to say i’m stuck… not because i dont have a corkscrew but i guess i feel in the middle. on the rare occasion i dont have a cork screw on me, i find corks a pain, but it doesnt quite feel like you’re really drinking wine unless you do pull a cork out. Screw tops are nice but they feel like i’m opening a bottle of soda-pop. But boxing wine….

]]> By: Jack Keller http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41957 Jack Keller Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:31:25 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41957 As a winemaker, I screwcap many of my shorter-lived fruit wines and use the finest corks I can afford for my full-bodied, tannic grape wines that need a sloooow breath to mature correctly.

]]> By: Saul M http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41885 Saul M Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:56:15 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41885 Screw caps make sense when you consider that the aging of a wine has more to do with the reductive processes inside the bottle than any oxidation through air exchange. Also, when you consider the aging of beer, remember that there is no air let in a beer bottle that is capped, yet many beers (especially barleywines) undergo powerful and splendid transformations inside that perfectly sealed vessel. No chance of corkage either.

]]> By: Jen http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41870 Jen Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:53:17 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41870 Cork or no cork, that is the question. I think arguments can be made for pro’s and con’s on both sides. At this writing long-term research seems to be revealing that screwcaps are good at preserving wines’ fruitiness and other characteristics we associate with ‘young’ wine. The same bottle with a cork stopper, OTOH, reveals a much more nuanced wine with age. I think consumers drink wines with each of those qualities at different times and that there’s room in the market for both closures. Consumer education will help. Only time will tell for sure.

]]> By: Fred McTaggart http://www.drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41864 Fred McTaggart Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:40:39 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/12/03/giveaway-to-cork-or-not-to-cork-by-george-taber/#comment-41864 I think we should institutionalize Pat Savoie’s classification of “screwed wines” and “corked wines.”

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