Comments on: Vent your spleen: synthetic corks!

By: A williams

A williams — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:31:36 +0000

I’m not here to save Spain and Portugal from an eco/economical crisis. I’m here to get drunk on wine! Lol! When Dom Perignon stumbled upon a process for making sparkling wine, I bet he was shunned by wine snobbery, too. Times change. I’ve never had a poorly tasting wine from an integra cork…, but imagine my Sunday lunch when the shops have closed and I pop that cork from my bottle and sit down to a James Bond repeat on a snowy day and YUK, corked! Not happy!

By: John Humphreys

John Humphreys — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:57:37 +0000

The question here is an ecological one. Cork is a renewable resource – it is taken off the trees that regrow it. These trees – cork oaks – are the backbone of an entire ecosystem in Spain and Portugal. If people stop using cork, there will be no incentive to protect the forests against being bulldozed for roads and condos. And the oak forests are a very precious wildlife area.

So:

Tolerate the very slight chance of having a corked wine (and though we drink a lot of wine, I have never had a “corked” wine bought in the last ten years) and maintain the Iberian Peninsula’s natural beauty

John Humphreys
PS – and I love the sound too!

By: Kelty

Kelty — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:38:22 +0000

I’m always so sad when I pull off the foil on a bottle I’ve never tried, and there’s a plastic bullet staring back at me…betrayal…

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:09:09 +0000

Last year I went to an tasting last year with a group of other winemakers featuring Rieslings between 7 – 20 years in age.

The semi-dry Riesling flight was absolutely beautiful, with the exception of 2 wines which had chemical / harsh flavors.

When we unveiled the wines, we found that both of these wines had been sealed with a synthetic closure. These wines were from the same producer, who had chosen to use the synthetic closure for 2 vintages, and subsequently switched back to cork. This producer had also submitted wines with natural cork from other vintages which showed beautifully.

All of this said, I realize that those who use synthetic corks probably don’t intend for the wines to be laid down for a considerable period of aging.

By: Luxury & Style

Luxury & Style — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:09:49 +0000

Just another sad example of the rot setting in – whatever happened to linen napkins, English speaking waiters and china teacups at polo?

By: Anejomofo

Anejomofo — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:06:57 +0000

I’ve never known an artificial cork to come apart and deposit tiny annoying fragments into my wine. I’m all for it.

By: 1WineDude

1WineDude — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:45:26 +0000

Charlie, I’ve got only one thing to say to you.

I’ve had all I can standz, and I can’t satndz no more!!!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:02:30 +0000

Thanks, Charlie, for the informative post.

I just came back from an annual tour of some northern Michigan wineries and noticed that some are making a point of differentiating to tasting room customers why some bottles have screwcaps and some corks: “drink me now” wines versus some that would benefit from a little bottle age. This makes more sense to me than an “always cork” or “always screwcap” argument.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:45:40 +0000

What wine do you prefer to pair with your spinach, Joe?

By: Jack O'C

Jack O'C — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:40:13 +0000

Maybe I’m naieve, but I have never had a problem with synthetic corks. And in my limited experience, most feel rubbery rather than plastic. Am I missing something?

By: Charlie Olken

Charlie Olken — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:23 +0000

Popeye? Dream on. Sorry, Joe. And pulling plastic corks could, at best, make you a one-armed Popeye.

By: 1WineDude

1WineDude — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:19:31 +0000

Actually, I enjoy pulling the synthetic corks off of my corkscrew.

It improves my forearm strength and will one day make me look like Popeye!

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:24:20 +0000

Real cork for me all the way, though I will agree with dctravel that for light, early consumption whites screwcaps are fine.

Drank a Berger Gruner Veltliner last night bottled under crown cap (like a glass beer bottle) only and found this closure to be great for this wine. But for anything expected to last more than one year in my cellar I want a real cork, and call me picky but I want it to be high quality and TCA free.

By: dctravel

dctravel — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:06:19 +0000

I prefer the real cork, as many of you due, but enjoy screwcaps for many light whites that would not be saved for any length of time. It allows you to easily take it to a picnic or outdoor concert without having to worry about a corkscrew and potential security issues (a DC phenomenon) at some outdoor events.

By: Rosehill

Rosehill — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:19:40 +0000

A lot of our customers ask us which is better, and as is evidenced here, in the end its purely a matter of personal preference. While screw caps definitely have their advantages, there is much sentiment in using a traditional cork. Some would even say that using anything other than a traditional cork – is blasphemy.

I like screw caps personally – they let you at your wine faster!