Cork v. Screwcap

Have a look at this supplement I stumbled upon. There is much in here I disagree with. I wonder what the advertisers paid Harpers for this supplement? What worried me most is the article by Paul White. He lives in New Zealand.

Cork v. Screw Cap

We are really getting into reduction in these posts!! One of the arguments used against screw cap is that screw cap increases the chances of reductive character in wine. This article would suggest that the opposite is more true.

Cork Versus Screw Cap

I am just reading an extraordinary advertisement in the latest Decanter. It is a pro-cork ad. suggesting that "leading wineries choose cork". Clearly the Portuguese and some cork merchants have gotten into bed with the World Wildlife Fund. Apparently by not using corks as your closure you will "force entire communities to leave [their current homes], resulting in more forest fires, desertification and the permanent loss of 2.7 million hectares of forest."

That is the last time I give a penny to the WWF!

Why don't I use cork? They remain far too unreliable and you european suppliers still allocate the worst corks to the new world.

I will end this post with a story that should make everyone cry.

At yesterday's fantastic tasting of that most seductive of wines - Romanée Saint-Vivant (yes I know I have yet to write up my notes, but I am about to bottle then I have to go to the Pinot workshop in Hamner) - there were 18 bottles from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's holdings - worth around NZ$400 a bottle - 4 bottles were corked. That is $1,600 down the drain. This is a rare enough wine as it is. Thanks to cork closures it is even rarer than it should be.

What is a real shame is that this wine was the best of the five Romanée Saint-Vivants that we tasted.

My write up of the tasting will come, I promise.