WTH?? Jacob's Creek has a screwtop wine bottle??

[Descartes]

You're way behind the trend if you were surprised by this. Countless top producers have been using screwtop closures for a while now, especially Oregon Pinot Noir producers. Many of the younger vintners in California have also caught on. The most notable in my mind is the garagiste Loring.

I personally don't care either way. I appreciate the romantic qualities in the presentation of a bottle with a traditional cork, the sommelier displaying their hand-crafted Laguiole to open that rare bottle, etc.; however, even a few spoiled bottles can change that.

I saw others bring up the various methods of wine preservation. I've posted this in other threads, but after fairly extensive testing I found a method that absolutely works: I decant a full bottle into half bottles and recork. The primary offender in wine spoilage is of course oxygen, so removing the headspace in the bottle is what's most important. Using half bottles accomplishes this far more effectively than trying to create a vacuum, replace the oxygen with a heavier inert gas, etc.

 

[jakedeez]

Are you kidding, screw tops are in right now!

 

[Codewiz]

All I am going to say is this. There is NOTHING worse than paying $100 for a quality bottle of wine so that you can store it for 10-15 years. Then when time comes to open it, you find that the cork was defective. It is something like 2% of natural cork is defective. Screwtop fixes that. Yes I like the idea of natural cork but I don't like having great wine get wasted because of something as simple as the device that is supposed to keep the wine in the bottle.

 

[Nerva]

pffff... australian riesling. i dont drink rieslings from non-german weinguts, with the exception of herman wiemer, which is upstate ny.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: 3cho
pffff... australian riesling. i dont drink rieslings from non-german weinguts, with the exception of herman wiemer, which is upstate ny.

Finger Lakes wine ftw!

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: 3cho
pffff... australian riesling. i dont drink rieslings from non-german weinguts, with the exception of herman wiemer, which is upstate ny.

Finger Lakes wine ftw!

yes herman wiemer is a finger lake producer!!! he's cool, does a lot of labor stuff himself. my wine professor is a good friend of his.

 

[Syrch]

Im in the wine industry and many manufacturers are going this route. Cost and freshness are the main factors if i remember correctly.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: 3cho
pffff... australian riesling. i dont drink rieslings from non-german weinguts, with the exception of herman wiemer, which is upstate ny.

Finger Lakes wine ftw!

yes herman wiemer is a finger lake producer!!! he's cool, does a lot of labor stuff himself. my wine professor is a good friend of his.

cool. i've personally been to that vineyard/winery a few times.

 

[Kelemvor]

Screw tops are actually better for the wine because they seal the bottle better.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Codewiz
All I am going to say is this. There is NOTHING worse than paying $100 for a quality bottle of wine so that you can store it for 10-15 years. Then when time comes to open it, you find that the cork was defective. It is something like 2% of natural cork is defective. Screwtop fixes that. Yes I like the idea of natural cork but I don't like having great wine get wasted because of something as simple as the device that is supposed to keep the wine in the bottle.

Teh winnar.

I've read similar statistics -- a percentage of bottles that use natural cork go bad after a few years. Screwtop bottles or plastic corks fix this and have ZERO effect on the actual wine.

 

[Canai]

Screw caps = 100% seal, corks != 100% seal.

Plain and simple.


Also reduces the chance of that nasty cork rot stuff.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
cork is becoming more and more in short supply. The industry did a lot of research on synthetic corks versus screwtops and found that screwtops actually preserve wine better than natural and plastic corks. Many vinyards have resisted the switch over the exact reaction you had, when in fact it is a superior solution.

Interesting. Where did you read that? Do you have a link?

 

[49erinnc]

I'm a bit of a wine snob and I'd have absolutely no problem with screw tops. Just too many occasions where I've had a crappy cork in a good bottle of wine, only to spend time straining out the tiny bits of cork.

They can all go to screw top for all I care. Makes wine drinking a lot easier.

 

[Canai]

My favorite local winery, Wollersheim, recently went to all screw caps. I asked the winemaker why and he explained a lot more than I could remember haha. But yes, I like screwcaps.... no more fishing out pieces of cork from the glass

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
cork is becoming more and more in short supply. The industry did a lot of research on synthetic corks versus screwtops and found that screwtops actually preserve wine better than natural and plastic corks. Many vinyards have resisted the switch over the exact reaction you had, when in fact it is a superior solution.

Interesting. Where did you read that? Do you have a link?

I posted a few earlier in the thread.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: 3cho
pffff... australian riesling. i dont drink rieslings from non-german weinguts, with the exception of herman wiemer, which is upstate ny.

I never heard of anyone referring to them as weinguts outside of Germany, but anyway, you're obviously missing the Alsace.

 

[jiggahertz]

I thought corks were used in the final stage of fermentation (bottling) because they are not air tight? Won't you get a carbonated beverage if you don't allow the bi-product of fermentation to escape?

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: 3cho
pffff... australian riesling. i dont drink rieslings from non-german weinguts, with the exception of herman wiemer, which is upstate ny.

I never heard of anyone referring to them as weinguts outside of Germany, but anyway, you're obviously missing the Alsace.

ah yes alsatian rieslings, they are a bit too dry for my taste though.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: 49erinnc
I'm a bit of a wine snob and I'd have absolutely no problem with screw tops. Just too many occasions where I've had a crappy cork in a good bottle of wine, only to spend time straining out the tiny bits of cork.

They can all go to screw top for all I care. Makes wine drinking a lot easier.

Bolded for importance.

Who want to mess with a cork when you're on the 4th bottle?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jiggahertz
I thought corks were used in the final stage of fermentation (bottling) because they are not air tight? Won't you get a carbonated beverage if you don't allow the bi-product of fermentation to escape?

It's already fermented before it gets to the bottle. Bottling is the last stage and it's best to keep the wine in exactly that state without the introduction of air.

Although I think "methode champagne" or is a little different and they do some fermentation in the bottle to develop the fizz.