Saturday, January 9, 2010

Screw cap or what?

Over the last couple of days, I drank the 2004 Giaconda Chardonnay from a bottle under screw cap and a bottle under cork. They tasted exactly the same. In fact, they were closer together than what one may find in bottle variations under the same closure.

Wine writers want you to believe that white wines under screw cap are 'fresher' and more exciting. It may be so that delicate white wines, which have never seen oak, are better off not coming into contact with oak. And for those who don't know it, the ratio of wood surface to wine volume is actually higher in the bottle than in a wine barrel. But I have yet to find evidence that a good cork is bad for wine which has been in oak barrels. I tend to think that the maturing of wine under cork creates more interesting and complex wine than under screw cap.

My prediction is this: In ten years, premium wine, made to last, say above $30 per bottle, will not be under screw cap. Red wine's closure will be a much improved cork. White wine will have glass or other closures which do not include chemicals. YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Most wine writers have NEVER had you believe that wines are better under cork (at least, not in the past 10 years).

What they propose is that (exactly as you assert) there is NO difference between wines under a screw cap and wines under a GOOD cork.

What they propose is that there is a much greater risk that your expensive wine will be damaged by a dodgy cork, rather than by a dodgy screw cap.

I would agree with that. Would you?