Hoke, that's fine but you haven't answered any the specific questions I put to you to about e.g. the type of liner in your screwcaps, or TDN in your Rieslings or copperfining or whether you have any long aging wines etc. Of course that's ok too.
Part of my problem may be that I had thought when you mentioned “my company's winemakers and production/qc people” that you were actually involved in making wines like e.g. Brian Loring with whom I have discussed these issues in similar threads. I can see that I missed your comment where you said to Victor that you are not a winemaker so perhaps you cannot answer these questions.
But what did you write? The comments you highlight were in your first post which was to Peter.
I believe the screwcap has established enough momentum, and provided enough advantages, as to convince producers their product is better under screwcaps than under cork (or other alternatives).
2. Screwcaps create a better, more consistent, more long term reliable seal to the precious commodity inside.
But don’t forget you went on to finish that second piece with
It is more respectful of the wine, the producer, and the investor/consumer. It is also, in my view, a more ethical closure.
Importantly in forming my interpretation you also said when responding to my post that:
I base my decision on my belief that screwcaps are the best existing closure for wine. Whether long or short term. Whether white or red.
Pretty emphatic surely.
As for misrepresenting you I think not, so we will just have to let others judge that but perhaps you might actually allow me to say how it appeared to me – and then simply qualify what you meant.
I did not use quotes to suggest they were your words and I qualified my comments with the words "I don't
think it was unfair to characterise" and said "At least that's how it read
to me" as well as putting it in the context of your first post that made no attempt to explain your first emphatic statements. Anyone reading my words should have been clear that I was describing my impression and they could make up their own mind having read yours. I also accepted you had opened the door with your post to Victorwine.
Yup I "interpreted" [as you say] it that way and IMO it is irrational to ask me to "take what you wrote" when I have already described it as my interpretation "of what you wrote" - unless of course you believe I was being disingenuous or have a defective understanding of the English language. Frankly your wish to insert the word 'many' before 'producers' sort of makes my point.
It would indeed be fairer to say that whatever your belief about the efficacy of screwcaps in all cases ‘most’ winemakers do not choose it as their closure and indeed very few bottle their premium long-aging reds under anything other than cork. Even Brian Loring [a screwcap winemaker] said he would still bottle long aging reds [if he made them] under cork until the picture was clearer.
Now my turn. I don’t follow your rationale for saying that I “seem to be saying that we
shouldn't be making any changes until all the information is in and there is
not a shadow of a doubt [/b]that screwcaps [b]are in every way preferable to cork”. [my bold]
How does that square with my very first post where I talked positively about what Pichon Baron [and now Latour] have done with screwcaps. And even the modest Bordeaux rose that my wife enjoys. I later referred to Penfold’s premium red bottlings under screwcap including tests on Grange itself.
Now I in turn have complained enough about misrepresentation and it would be a pity to end this dialogue with such whingeing.
As I said at the beginning I stand in the middle of this debate convinced that there is no single type of closure that should sensibly be deployed for all sorts of wine “Whether long or short term. Whether white or red”. This is not because I wish to sit on the fence or “not having enough information or knowledge to make up my own mind about this issue, at this point”. The extensive and constantly sought information from all sides of the argument persuade me that this is a logical position while all competing closures continue to be improved, researched and tested and all have significant cons as well as their pros.
I am for the development of all types of closures that have been shown to have positive attributes even if they are not yet perfected. I already have most of them [for red, white and rose but no Champagne] in my cellar although the huge majority of my wines are still under cork. This is not a function of closure choice but the fact that the vast majority of wines we drink are still produced under cork. I would be happy to be offered a choice but I would still like there to be a choice.
There is no wine that I would not buy simply because of its closure although at this stage I would not buy large quantities of long aging wines under screwcap although I have bought some of the very few already available.
Finally if you asked me to guess, I would say that if all vectors continue to shift in the their current directions no one closure is going to be able to capture the entire market for all the different wines made across the world in the near or medium term. And in the long term we are all dead. I believe I will be long before the issue is finalised.