Carpundit: Screw-Top Wine

My innate aversion notwithstanding, I received a bottle of screwtop wine (here, at the world's most annoying website) yesterday. I opened it for an evening drink, a process that generated a not-unpleasant ratcheting sound, with a click at the end. Not unpleasant, that is, if you're opening a new bottle of olive oil. Truly unpleasant when you're expecting wine.

My first observation after the removal was that the seal was not airtight. The threads allow only one or two turns, and there was no plastic or rubber grommet of any kind. My first taste tended to confirm that observation. It tasted like a bottle of wine left open for too long.

Am I right? Or was it just bad wine (which it surely was)? Is there any reason to think screwtop winemakers are trying (or able) to replace cork with a similar seal, or is it just a way to keep the ripple from spilling? Clearly, they'll never replace corks in good wines, but if the damn thing worked, I don't know why they couldn't feed America a bunch of $12 merlot with screw tops. I just don't think they can possibly work. Thoughts?

(I found these articles, both of which indicate the screw-top is airtight and fully functional. I don't buy it. Yet.)

Comments

...Well, there's a huge fuss on this issue in the wine industry. Cork is tradition, but TCA is a big problem that ruins a lot of wine.

Personally, when it comes to the taste of wine, I don't think it makes any difference for most wine. I had horrible corked wine and I had good screw cap/synthetic-seal wines. The seal makes a difference only on the quality of the seal itself. A good screw caps actually protects wine better than cork.

However, tradition is tradition.

There are people that argue cork is a part of the maturing process for fine wine. I don't think there's anyone on earth that can tell the difference between the same wine sealed with different caps.

Posted by: Shawn | August 30, 2006 at 10:17 AM

What about a screw top WITH a cork? Not that I am a wine person, but some of my favorite belgian beers are topped that way.

I'm sure wine people are also not happy about boxed wine. But scientifically that is the best airtight package, and reamains so even after opening. Check your package store shelves and you'll see that better quality wine companies are finally starting to notice too.

Posted by: Josh Wardell | August 30, 2006 at 10:45 AM

1) I've had some very nice screw top wines in the last few years.

2) You seem to be questioning the airtight quality of screw tops? I think the soft drink and beer markets pretty much prove that the screw top can be airtight.

Posted by: Erik | August 30, 2006 at 06:10 PM

Soda works, sure. But those all have little rubber or plastic rings inside. I guess I'm not questioning the capability of the technology, but the wine I got had no such ring. It was metal only. I guess I'm wrong, but the merlot tasted like a nice bottle that sat open for several days.

Posted by: carpundit | August 30, 2006 at 08:52 PM