I think that the screw top storage solution for wine is still facing a bit of a stigma when it comes to “percieved quality”.
As white wine is more likely to suffer from cork taint a lot more commercial producers are using screw tops.
I think it’s just a matter of time though. Bottling is cheaper with screw top – usually a local producer.. However a lot of wineries still bottle their own and have yet to replace their corking systems.
Screw caps are relatively new technology in the general scheme of things and jp’s right – it’s a perceived quality thing. But, once convinced, wine makers are unlikely to go back to cork because they’re basically guaranteed that the wine that comes out of the bottle is the same as when it went it.
For us, we love screw caps! But, we wont’ buy something just because it has a screw cap – it has to taste good too 🙂
Corks allow gas exchange for cellaring, whereas stelvins/screw caps are for wines designed to be drunk young. At least that’s what my wine class teacher told me, no wine has ever lasted long enough in my house to actually ‘cellar’.
Actually, gas exchange is generally considered to be universally bad for all wines (except sherries, but they oxidise those before they bottle them).
The only problem with putting screw caps on bottles designed to be aged is that nobody is really sure how they will hold up over time. Maybe the lining materials will degrade or taint the wine after 10+ years.
If the bottle makers are smart they will have re-bottled some Grange in screw-caps somewhere along the line, and some time in the future they’ll have a blind tasting to resolve the issue.
But for beer bottles, I say the pry-off are better because they’re easier to re-cap when I fill them with home-brew.
Eva
September 27, 2007 — 5:41 pm
Theres something nice about popping a cork out of a wine bottle. I think its like drinking coke out of a glass bottle.
And what if champange was screw top… now THAT is a nasty thought.
jp
September 27, 2007 — 8:27 pm
I think that the screw top storage solution for wine is still facing a bit of a stigma when it comes to “percieved quality”.
As white wine is more likely to suffer from cork taint a lot more commercial producers are using screw tops.
I think it’s just a matter of time though. Bottling is cheaper with screw top – usually a local producer.. However a lot of wineries still bottle their own and have yet to replace their corking systems.
I suspect beer is the same.
JulieB
September 28, 2007 — 8:14 am
Screw caps are relatively new technology in the general scheme of things and jp’s right – it’s a perceived quality thing. But, once convinced, wine makers are unlikely to go back to cork because they’re basically guaranteed that the wine that comes out of the bottle is the same as when it went it.
For us, we love screw caps! But, we wont’ buy something just because it has a screw cap – it has to taste good too 🙂
the other andrew
September 28, 2007 — 11:24 am
Corks allow gas exchange for cellaring, whereas stelvins/screw caps are for wines designed to be drunk young. At least that’s what my wine class teacher told me, no wine has ever lasted long enough in my house to actually ‘cellar’.
The Snook
September 28, 2007 — 4:55 pm
Actually, gas exchange is generally considered to be universally bad for all wines (except sherries, but they oxidise those before they bottle them).
The only problem with putting screw caps on bottles designed to be aged is that nobody is really sure how they will hold up over time. Maybe the lining materials will degrade or taint the wine after 10+ years.
If the bottle makers are smart they will have re-bottled some Grange in screw-caps somewhere along the line, and some time in the future they’ll have a blind tasting to resolve the issue.
But for beer bottles, I say the pry-off are better because they’re easier to re-cap when I fill them with home-brew.