Corks are Obsolete
I just wonder why my American compatriots get so excited about corks versus screw caps. What's the matter with you guys? America is supposed to be one of the view safe havens in this world where libertarians are allowed to speak openly! So let's keep the discussion in that great libertarian spirit - let everyone do as they please. No boycott of Spanish wine, ok? This silly suggestion falls into the same category as Freedom Fries. If they want to use cork fine. If they want to use screw caps - fine too. Just remember a lot of wine is sold within Continental Europe. When it comes to food and wine we are very, very traditional here. Put yourself in a local vigneron's shoes. Using screw caps might mess up his domestic market. I know, you want to be very progressive or do you all own stock in Crown Cork & Seal Inc? The discussion takes some bizarre turns, view a recent entry in wine expressions, a blog I happen to like very much.
Hugh Hubble said:
The primary reason that New Zealanders use screw cap rather than cork, is because their wine doesn’t stay in the bottle long enough! Most of Switzerland’s wine comes in screw cap bottles and if you don’t know Swiss wines, then try and get hold of some Dôle or Gamay from the Vallais. They export very little, keeping most of their (delicious) wines for themselves. Apart from that, more and more of the wine from southern France sold in supermarkets in this part of France (Haute Savoie), now comes with plastic/compressed foam type "corks" wine such as Pay D'Oc or Beaujolais.
It could well have something to do with the markets too. Most Californian & Australian wine now being shipped into the UK, where the wines are often cheaper than vin ordinaire from la belle France, is also with this synthetic "cork" - so my wine drinking mates advise me. Santé !
Eve Collins said:
It appears the screw cap movement has not made any big inroads with European wine producers. This is a follow up on my Corks are Obsolete post about a year ago. The traditionalists argue that preventative and curative measures introduced in the past few years by major cork producers have practically eliminated the two major disadvantages: cork taint and crumbs of dry cork falling into a wine glass during pouring. They also play the environmental card: less carbon footprint during production and biodegradable waste. Corticeira Amorim, the world’s largest cork producer, certainly has gone on a product improvement and marketing offensive since bottle caps and synthetic cork started threatening their market.
posted on 2007-04-01 at 1:36 pm