Screw-Caps: The Verdict

March 17, 2011 by Kris Barber  

You wouldn’t expect to go too far on a Ukrainian motorcycle.

Some things have a bad reputation, and deservedly so. For example, you wouldn’t expect to go too far on a Ukrainian motorcycle. When at the bookstore, you don’t see magazine racks filled with editions covering British cuisine. In Vegas nobody’s lining up to place a large bet on Detroit to win the Super Bowl next season. It’s not that any one of these examples couldn’t turn out well; it’s just that their reputations keep us from reaching into our wallets and giving them a vote of confidence with a few of our hard-earned dollars.

There are times, however, when reputations are undeserved. For instance sometimes a slider from White Castle hits the spot far better than any food from a five star restaurant. Sometimes Pitbulls are wimpy, meek little lambs. Sometimes Toyotas don’t accelerate wildly into that obstacle in front of them. Lord help me for writing this, but sometimes I’ve even tapped my foot pleasantly to a Miley Cyrus song.

Screw-caps on wine bottles are another perfect example. For years only low-end swill was bottled with a screw-cap and it became a classic case of guilt by association. Over time, though, more and more wineries use screw-caps on higher-end wines. Not only are the caps more cost- efficient bottle closures for wineries to use, they also eliminate the estimated 2-3 percent of wasted wine due to bad corks.  Ruling out a wine simply because it has a screw-cap closes the door on many well-made, high-quality wines.

So next time you’re watching that Tom Green movie on your Kazakhstani DVD player while eating pizza from Iceland, try one of these screw-cap wines. You won’t be disappointed. At least not with the wine.

Badger Mountain 2009, Merlot ($15.99): Take a can of stewed plums, sprinkle it with a dash of oak dust, and smoke it out of a tobacco pipe. Do this and you’ll get an idea of the rich, complex nose this wine displays.

Trentatude 2006, Old Patch Red ($12.99): A blend of five varietals, this wine is packed with flavors of ripe blackberries. Drinking this wine reminds me of listening to one of those eclectic college radio stations. Just when the fruit is getting too soft like a triple play of Air Supply, Green Day shows up in the form of strong, solid tannins to keep everything in check and give it some backbone.

To read more of Kris Barber’s insights on wine, visit his blog at winerogue.wordpress.com.

Comments

  • Anonymous

    Natural cork remains the closure of choice among wineries because it allows red wines to age properly — and because consumers prefer it by a very wide margin.  Cork is also the superior choice from an environmental perspective. 
    The use of cork encourages the stewardship of the Mediterranean cork oak forests, which offset the carbon dioxide from 2.5 million vehicles every year. The trees are not cut down to harvest the cork bark, nor is there a shortage of cork.
    Using natural cork on 5,000 cases of wine actually eliminates 7.4 tons of CO2.  Using screw-caps on the same 5,000 bottles adds 2.5 tons of CO2. 
     That’s why the International Organization of Vine and Wine recently began encouraging wineries to consider the carbon offset value of cork in reducing their carbon footprints.