Natural Cork vs. Artificial Cork vs. Screw Cap Controversy

Screw tops can be very un-romantic in table-side presentation.

Sorry, Kerry, I don't agree with that. Unless the server is an absolute klutz at his/her job.

I see nothing romantic about opening a bottle of wine under cork and having it foully tainting and reeking of mold at tableside.

I also see nothing un-romantic about a pristine bottle of fine wine sitting on or by table with an efficient closure method visibly protecting the wine.

This past week I had dinner at one of the most expensive, highly rated, and truly elegant restaurants in the SF Bay/Wine Country region. Dinner bill for four came to not much under $1000. Food, decor and service was equisite. The first bottle we had (after a glass of champagne and some caviar) was a Grosset Riesling Clare Valley. It was just as elegant, and just as elegantly delivered to our glasses, as the next two wines which were cork finished. Actually, I thought it the best wine of the evening; and Grosset lacks elegance not at all.

Your point seems a little more "romantic than a screw top presentation. Screw tops can be very un-romantic in table-side presentation.

Why? Somnelier presents the bottle, you read the label and see the screwcap, you know instantly that the wine will almost certainly be pristine, without feeling put down when you are forced into tasting the wine. Perhaps you can not detect TCA but your guests can, but it is you who will be offered the taste. Then the screwcap is cracked and you know that it has not been tampered with and it was the winemakers who filled the bottle. Works for me.

We have gotten, not only on this thread, but in life in general to a true impasse, one in which no-one is going to convince anyone else of the validity of their point, something akin to proving or disaproving the existence of God. Personally, I'm going back to my new year's resolution (yes, I will apologize to the demi-gods for violating that resolution for over a month) and am opting out on these closure debates at least until next Christmas day.

Best
Rogov

We have gotten, not only on this thread, but in life in general to a true impasse, one in which no-one is going to convince anyone else of the validity of their point, something akin to proving or disaproving the existence of God. Personally, I'm going back to my new year's resolution (yes, I will apologize to the demi-gods for violating that resolution for over a month) and am opting out on these closure debates at least until next Christmas day.

Best
Rogov

Rogov it has been enlightening none the less to have you a part of this discussion. I am going to use the input in my article to at least bring some differing opinions and future projection to light. This may be one more step to a more informative buying decision by the consumer and a bit less fear or resistance to change.

Cheers!

Rob W
Journalist / Contributor
http://www.okanaganwinereview.com
The Premier Social Network
Dedicated to the wines of the Okanagan Valley!

Somnelier presents the bottle, you read the label and see the screwcap, you know instantly that the wine will almost certainly be pristine, without feeling put down when you are forced into tasting the wine.

If by "pristine" you mean "without cork-induced TCA, then sure. But screwcaps have lots of problems of their own, as do every other closure type. I don't limit closure defects to just TCA, though after last night's fiasco (two corked wines in a row), I'm somewhat sympathetic to that point of view.

Just because the wine has a screw-cap enclosure doesn’t justify that the waiter or waitress just “by-pass” the whole “wine presentation” to the table. The same should occur- presenting the label before opening the wine, examining the enclosure (maybe for dents or dings), pouring a sample, wait for the nod or OK, and then continue serving to the party.

Salute

I hesitate to comment here (other than to say that I suspect most of you would agree with me that plastic corks are the WORST of all closures) but ...it's been my observation that servers and waits-people (sp??) generally prefer to serve wines with corks. They say screw caps don't have the ritual elegance of corks and do detract from the wine presentation experience. My observations are a small sampling, and refer only to restaurants in Louisville where I live, but I think it would be an interesting exercise for all of us survey the people who serve us wine in restaurants as to their feelings about closures and the also as to the incidence of corked wines. Again, these are not my opinions, just answers to casually asked questions.

A lot of good points here. Absolutely the bottle presentation and taste should take place. If the TCA component can be (mostly) removed so much the better.

They say screw caps don't have the ritual elegance of corks and do detract from the wine presentation experience.

IMHO this just reinforces the need for wait people to undergo continual education. It is not up to them to determine what might be "ritual elegance" or not. It is their job to serve the wine to the customer(s), nothing more. It is the customers experience that counts, not theirs.

If the customer asks for their opinion on a wine then their education must be (should be, anyway) of such a level that they can answer the questions knowlegably. All wait staff that are serious about their jobs should think about completing at least some of the Court of Master Somnellier courses. But from a lot that I have seen here the education might run to the restaurant owner saying "Here is your waiter's friend cork screw, go serve the wine to my customers".

And I agree about the plastic corks. Yuck! Even if you need a cork screw to get it out of the bottle, and TCA is probably not present.

IMHO this just reinforces the need for wait people to undergo continual education. It is not up to them to determine what might be "ritual elegance" or not. It is their job to serve the wine to the customer(s), nothing more. It is the customers experience that counts, not theirs...

I think this is unfair to wait people. A waiter who "serves wine to their customers and nothing more" may be doing an adequate job, but not a really good job, nor a job that merits an extra good tip. The fact that some of them may find more pleasure in presenting a wine with a cork closure to their customers than one with a screw cap doesn't mean they are ignorant or uneducated about wine, it simply speaks to what many people, myself included, enjoy about corks. Usually their answer comes with a somewhat wistful smile which I interpret to mean something like "yes I understand there are problems with corks, and that screw caps work very well, maybe even better than corks, but as someone who opens and serves wine every day, there's just something about a cork I enjoy..." The fact that they take pleasure in their job, and specifically the part of their job that involves wine, is commendable.

Fair comment Bob. For those that want to do the best job they can they will also likely educate themselves. I applaud this. And I have seen a screw caped bottle opened with a flourish every bit as theatrical as someone wielding a cork screw efficiently.

I just had a discussion with a bartender last night at a wine bar, his estimation was that only about 10% of their wines were screw-cap. He said he is regularly having to defend a wine that is chosen once the customer realizes the wine is a screw cap. He was fairly knowledgeable about the various closures and his defensive tactics when a customer tries to return or balk about their screw cap selection. As mentioned earlier in this thread, its whats on the inside that counts!

Rob W
Journalist / Contributor
http://www.okanaganwinereview.com
The Premier Social Network
Dedicated to the wines of the Okanagan Valley!