Ask Mike: Cork vs. screw top
Hey Guys,
There are two kinds of people in this world–those who admit they can’t tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine and those who lie about it.
In years past, how the bottle was corked told you something about the wine. For example, if it came with a screw top, the odds that you were about to drink swill rose considerably. But is that fair or have screw tops gotten a bad rap?
For those of you who don’t know, the vast majority of wine is corked. Some bottles come with screw tops, but those tend to be the types of wine you’d expect to sell for less than a king-size candy bar. That’s the stereotype, anyway.
I sniffed out an article from U.S. News and World Report that explains that the wine industry undertook a considerable marketing campaign to help change the way people think about screw tops. Why? Because according to the experts, screw tops are better for the wine.
PBS hosts an excellent article on the subject. Corks look nice and give a satisfying “pop” when they’re opened, but “they sometimes give the wine a musty, moldy smell and taste.”
Winemakers have already begun the switch from cork. “Two decades ago, nearly all wine bottles were sealed with natural corks; today, the figure is around 80 percent.” In some countries, the cork has been all but eliminated. For example, nearly all the New Zealand wines are sold with screw tops.
I expect the change to be gradual. The cork might not be best for the wine, but it certainly looks the nicest. And, as PBS points out, corks are biodegradable and much better for the environment.
How do you guys (those of you over 21, anyway) feel about wine? Can you honestly tell the difference between the good stuff and the bad? If so, how? I certainly can’t. Please leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading,
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My favorite screwtop:
Torbreck Woodcutter’s Semillion from the Barossa Valley in Australia. First rate wine and easy to open!
Honestly, no I can’t tell the diffrence. I’m not much of a wine person to begin with, however. I never really grew to like the taste of it, doesn’t matter if it’s 3 dollars a bottle or 300 for me.. I just can’t grow to like the taste.
Let’s not forget that because of the huge increase in the number of wines and spirits producers, there is a constant shortage of natural cork to use to stop up those bottles.
Natural cork comes from the Quercus Suber tree which, once it’s about 20 years old begins producing adequate cork for harvesting and then can only be harvested once every 10 years and cork that is suitable for the wine industry only comes from the third harvest – 50 years after the tree is planted. It was this high demand and lack of supply that prompted wine producers to look for alternatives in the first place.
Many vintners have been using synthetic corks made of rubber, or rubberized plastics for years. Perhaps some recycling could be accomplished here. Whole Foods is already recycling natural corks…why not melt down the synth ones to make new ones?
As far as screw on caps, they do more consistently preserve the wine but who among us (over 30) doesn’t remember Fred Sanford with his precious Ripple with a screw on cap. Turns out the cheap wine makers had the right idea using screw on caps, at least for the preservation of their product.
But it seems that the rules for wine have relaxed some so finding a respectable wine isn’t as important as it used to be (I’ll admit some very nice wines come in boxes these days). People drink red wine with fish without batting an eye. It’s more about drink what you like instead of drink what The Wine Enthusiast says you should like. (Although a restaurant patron at a table near me a few weeks ago made me cringe when he demanded ice for his cabernet.)
I think the switch to screw on caps will go faster with the newer wine drinkers than it will for the older sticks in the mud and if one widely respected wine maker (de Rothschild, for example) switches to screw on caps, the tide could turn completely everywhere.
Personally I think there’s something appealing about opening a corked bottle, it’s just not as romantic with a screw on cap. I’m not a wine aficionado and I don’t drink regularly, but put to a choice of two equally tasty wines I would still buy the cork top even if it was more expensive.
there are not just those two kinds of people. there are also the kind of people that value their liver and health and don’t drink. unlike you alcoholics.
I can tell the difference, but I worked for several years at high-end restaurants. I typically drink a couple of wines that run about $5-10 a bottle (I know which ones are a good bargain!)
As for the cork, many wines have migrated from cork to screwtops recently due to the shortage of good cork – especially whites (and New Zealand and Australian whites in particular). A screw top no longer means cheap wine.
Basically, the quality of the cork determines how well a wine will age. A good cork lets just a tiny bit of air pass through, which enhances the aging process. Too much air, and it turns to vinegar quickly. You’re much more likely to get a bad bottle of wine these days, because there isn’t enough good cork to go around.
See, this is why people should just drink what they think tastes good. That removes the chances of a so-called social faux pa that only exists if you allow yourself to believe it’s a faux pa. Drink what you like.
I can tell a Bit of difference between wines – some do make you go ‘hmmmmmm’ and grit your teeth, but some slip down a bit more easily. I have no idea what makes the difference, or what the names are of the wines that do either though.
Beer is much more accessible, much more fun to be a beer connoisseur!
In the UK now, nobody thinks of screw tops as being bad.
Much time and money was spent in developing synthetic corks (so much time to find a plastic that didn’t react badly with the wine), so lots use that but then people have switched to screws instead cos it’s just easier on all fronts.
Can’t say I can tell the difference.Charles Shaw finest
wines have cork tops.(Two Buck Chuck).
I have a suggestion.For those of us who live in large
cities and who are panhandled let’s ask these wine
connoseurs as to what their choice is.
These people know wine.
There’s a similar saying like that one: There are three types of people in the world; those who know how to count, and those that do not.
Uncorking a bottle of wine is quite satisfying, but I agree that corks can impair the flavour, and, of course the wine can become ‘corked’. Screwcaps are good but it takes away the little ritual of uncorking wine – much the same I guess, as CDs replacing vinyl. The quality’s better but you can’t beat the ritual of putting a record on a turntable and placing the needle. Synthetic corks are becoming widespead, eliminating wines being corked, but maintaining the bottle-opening ritual.
Another option for corking wine is the synthetic cork. It is usually made of some sort of fibrous polymer and does a much better job of protecting the wine inside. And yes, you can still use a corkscrew on it and it does popl when you open the bottle.
If I am not mistaken, aren’t a lot of the corks from manmade products?
I have heard for a long time that the top on the bottle does not mean anything about the quality of the wine.
I do believe that wine like beer, should be good and enjoyed with company.
Over my 15 years in restaurants, I can tell you that MOST people know nothing about wine except what tastes good to them. Old rules about wine are changing (you can have red wine with fish, or white wine with red meat if you want to!). And, technically speaking, a screw top IS better for the wine. It has a bad rep though.
I think the main reason it has a bad rep is because there’s something to be desired in the service of a screw top in restaurants. There is no more pomp and circumstance when the server cuts the foil, then just twists the lid on the $40 bottle you bought to impress your date. I can’t place a screw top in front of you for you to investigate and admire with the same tenacity.
Ultimately, all that matters is if the wine is stored properly, at the right temperature, and tastes good for you! We all have different tastes, and of the 20% of people that know something about wine, I’d venture that less than 5% actually do! Go with the flow, enjoy your meal and beverage, and who cares how the bottle was opened as long as you reached the first 2 goals?
in the rarly 70′s i bought bottles of chats. latour, margo, and lafite cheap wholesale, stored right, temp etc. in 1990 i opened some with friends going to war. the said they were good. it tasted like rot-gut to me. like some i tasted from a wine store in the 60′s. aid it was great! i guess people who think they are hi society think they have to say it’s good.
I can tell the difference between wine that has been made in stainless (less time, no oak or spice) rather than aged in a barrel…. and sometimes, not always I can pick up on whether or nots its french oak or american oak. You see, if its oak barreled…. you will taste the oak… it will leave an aftertaste….. and if its french barreled, then it will be really smooth and almost taste like chocolate….. but its not always this way… but for sure I can tell the difference between stainless and oak…. hands down.
“For those of you who don’t know, the vast majority of wine is corked.” Nonsense! Studies have put the percentage of TCA-affected (i.e., corked) wine at 2-5%, sometimes 8%, and maybe up to 10%. But even 10% is far from a majority!
not to mention. some corks can break apart and get in the wine. disrupting the whole experience. screw top comes off clean. and any idiot can unscrew it off. not everyone can do the cork
i think that wine should be enjoyed no matter what type of closing it has. What matters is the taste, and the person like it. And everyone has different tastes.
And to the person who said that people that drink wine are alcoholics…having a glass of wine every once and awhile does not make you a drunk.
There are a number of scientific studies that have shown that in individuals perception about how good or bad something tastes is heavily influenced by their perception of its value. Have a waiter in a tux pour someone a glass of wine from a fancy corked bottle, tell them it retails for $100, and they’ll probably rate it quite highly. Offer them the identical wine poured by a kid in a polo shirt from a screw top bottle, tell them it’s $6.95, and they’ll find all sorts of problems with it.
I think screw tops might replace corks for home use, but I don’t think restaurants will give up their corks that easily. So much of the wine experience at a restaurant is centered around the ceremony.. consulting with the sommelier (or choosing yourself if you’re brave or want to show off), inspecting the label when the bottle is presented, the skillful popping of the cork, the first careful taste and the nod of approval.. it’s why restaurants get away with charging $120 for a bottle of wine that the store down the street sells for $35. How do you skillfully remove a screw top?
Well I used to spend time with some waiters who worked at high-priced fancy French restaurants and they gave me a few pointers when it comes to wine tasting. First, when wine goes bad it basically turns into viniger and becomes very bitter and sour, with enough practice, you can start to notice it. Another thing that sets expensive wine from cheap wine apart is it’s ingredients. Not just grapes. Aparently they add different things to wine to give it a subtle but complex flavor. Cheaper wines are much simpler in taste. They taste just like grape juice to me.
the truth about cork taint is it is rarely from corks in midpriced or cheap corked wine. It’s usually from a filter pad that was never changed. The mold that makes TCA is present there much more often than in corks. Also a person mentioned synthetic corks. Yes there are those, one of the tricky ones is made from cork shavings and is pressed to look like real cork. Most people wouldnt even know the difference. The main reason cork is being phased out is the cost a good long cork (the longer the cork the longer the aging in general) can cost around 6 dollars. not too much when the wine sells for hundreds a bottle.
Now, the downside of screwcap is that there is no gas exchange. It is true that TCA (cork taint) levels are much lower without actual cork, but H2S or rotten egg smell is now more common than ever. The porous material of cork allows this gas and several others to escape the bottle over time. Generally the younger the wine the less of these gasses formed.
New Zealand wines aren’t meant to be aged much anyway so there is a trade off. But a Mouton Rothschild would die in the bottle without that exchange. Where I work we barrel age for 18 months then bottle age for 2 years before selling our wine, but it goes for 400 a bottle. No way could we ever use screw caps and not just for an asthetic purpose either.
Vindicated at last! In my opinion, most “fine” wines taste more like vinegar than anything potable. If I absolutely have to drink wine, give me one with a twist cap…something alomng the lines of Boone’s Farm Country Kwencher, vintage last Tuesday.
It might not have the cachet of a $100 bottle of wine, but it tastes better and there’s enough change from the $5 bill with which you paid for it to buy a bag of Doritos too!
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don’t.
Screwtops and syncorks don’t matter if you’re not going to lay the wine down. It is my understanding that reds which need significant bottle time should be corked with cork. Real cork breathes just enough to help reds mature.
so basically what you just said is there are poor people and there are rich people who drink wine alot
Living in wine country, but not being a fan of wine or any alcoholic beverage for that matter, I found your blog to be very interesting. Have you ever been in a persons home that is and avid wine drinker and saves the corks? If so, move close to the cork collection and see if it doesn’t smell musty and old. I have a very keen sense of smell and have noticed it numerous times. It only makes sense that this “mustiness” would affect the flavor of the wine.
i can tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine. if it tastes bad, it´s expensive.
I hate all wine it tastes like shit. It’s not sweet like grape juice at ALL just give me some Jello Shots or trash can punch!
Actually… yes, I can tell the difference between wines, most of the time. I can’t taste all of the various aspects of wine, but I can usually pick out notes of oak, berry, apple, and pear. I can also tell the difference between cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, and pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc. I’m not a wine afficiando, by far, but I’ve learned a few things from drinking a lot of it. I’ve learned that in general, most American wines are inferior to European wines. I’ve learned that German riesling is far sweeter and more mild in comparison to American riesling. I can usually pick the right wine to go with any meal, though some of my choices might be a bit unorthodox. But really, there are so many different kinds of wine, and peoples’ tastes vary. I prefer white wines, other than chardonnay, for example, while my mother-in-law prefers red wines.
It really doesn’t take much to learn about wine. Just experience, and trial and error. I think a lot of people are just scared off from the whole wine experience because it seems… complicated. It really isn’t. Drink what you like. It really is as simple as that.
Wine is not about cheap vs. expensive or cork vs. screw top (or even box). It’s about the experience. A cheap (IE: inexpensive) wine can be very good under the right circumstances. And, I have had cheap Merlot that I liked a lot better than more expensive ones.
But, I will also have to say that uncorking a bottle of wine adds some to the experience than unscrewing. How romantic does this sound when you and your significant other are alone: “Honey, let’s unscrew a bottle of wine.” It kind of loses some of its appeal.
Ok, I which to object to the opening statement and I’m am hoping it is in jest.
“There are two kinds of people in this world–those who admit they can’t tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine and those who lie about it.”
As far as screw vs cork vs rubber vs plastic. Yep, it takes some winos a little time to come over. Certainly industry studies (I’m not in the industry but follow it closely) suggest that screw is better – less evaporation, less contamination, etc. But, also slows the ageing process which can be good or bad.
As an owner of a sizeable wine cellar and one that knows good vs. poor/marginal wines (not to mention) bad. For ageing so far I’ve not found a big difference between the 2. I have 20+ year olds with cork that are drinking just fine.
All I know is the likelihood that screw top will impact the wine is smaller than cork.
From what I have read, over 90% of wine is meant to be drunk immediately. I think the “need to breath” comments above would not apply to this 90%. For this 90% of the bottles, screw tops are just fine with me. It took me a while to get over the stigma that the wine industry brought upon itself by its early usage of screw tops on the very cheapest wines. In fact, I am still sometimes hesitant on buying a screw top for a gift for fear that an unenlightened recipient may think I brought a cheap bottle.
In terms of telling the difference between “good stuff and bad”, of course I can. The good stuff is the wine I drink and the bad is the wine I do not like. However, I think you meant the cheap and expensive. Since expensive wine is priced more for its rarity than its quality, this task should be impossible.
Our house wine at one of my jobs comes both corked and screw top. It’s the exact same wine, so obviously cork/screw doesn’t always tell about the quality. We like the screw tops better just because they’re so much easier to open (when you have to open 40 bottles quickly for a wedding).
Wine makers are actually having problems getting good quality cork. For better quality wines you will start to see glass corks taking their place. It will be a slow thing, the glass cork system (though superior) is cost prohibitive.
But if you put all snobbery aside … actually the dreaded white-trash wine box is scientifically the best way to store wine.
screwtop….Thunderbird, Night Train, Wild Irish Rose.
or
Boones Farm,. Annie Green Springs
Tang +Everclear(?)=bottled screwdriver
I personally prefer cork than screw top. There’s something appealing about opening a corked bottle, it’s just not as classy with a screw on cap. I can tell the difference between a $2 buck chuck and a great wine. I drink regularly, but put to a choice of two equally tasty wines I would still buy the cork top even if it was more expensive.
Well while I was in college I was a weekend night bartender, I learned a little about wine (well, just the ones we served). In my opinion, fine wine is aweful, honestly. The finer the ‘taste’ the more like vinegar is tastes. I have tasted numerous fine wines and hated them all, literally someone has been so gracious to open a fine wine in my presence and I only gauged how ‘good’ it was according to how ‘vinergary’ is tasted. I have never been wrong.
I prefer an entire bottle (or two) of Boones Farm Melon, with a fine Nicaraguan cigar. Total price for the evening with two bottles and a cigar ~$7.50
My dad was a moonshiner so I’m much more versed in rotgut. I can’t tell one wine from another. They all taste like vinegar to me. But I have a foolproof system for selecting wine: pick one that has a label you like. And save the bottle, they make great flower vases.
You are forgetting completely about wine in a box!
Make a hole in the cardboard, pull the little tube and turn valve through the hole, hold the box up high, hold the turn valve in your lips and open it to let the wine out. YUM!
No cork or screw top to mess with.
While I was in grad school our Perception teacher invited us over to his house at the end of the semester to sample some wines. There were around ten bottles, all labels were covered and the bottles were numbered. The prices on the wine bottles varied from $5 to around $150. We were to sample each wine and label them from most expensive to least expensive. Nine of the ten people labeled the $5 bottle the most expensive and the $150 the least expensive. There was only one person there that really knew anything about wine, he labeled them pretty acurately according to price. It was completely lost on the rest of us.
I personally liked corked wines and dont really think that they give wine a bad taste…unless its been sitting for months. I actually like to re-seal my wine with the bottle tilted so that the wine is touching the cork (after its been opened). I feel it keeps the wine tasting good.
I can tell the difference, but do not consider my6 self a connoisseur by a long shot. There are many parameters that make a good wine good, the basics are these. Before you even taste it, you can appreciate the clarity of the whine, or the brilliance of color, the clearest the wine, or the more brilliant the color the better the wine is likely to be, you can even lean your glass against a white background so you can see if the wine is clear. Even Rose wines should be clear.
Another very vital indicator is the aroma – smell, move your glass in a gentle circular motion, just with your wrist, not your whole arm, and let the wine switch around in the glass, then place your nose just over the ream and breath in the aroma, you can smell several characteristics, like flowery or woodsy scents, spices etc.
Just as with tequila and Vodka, the really good ones will go down very smoothly, the not so good ones will be a bit more harsh, the really bad ones will BURN your throat.
Another good parameter is the complexity of flavor, if you cleanse your palate of previous tastes, and take a few sips, the switch them around in your mouth, you will be able to appreciate the various nuances of flavor, wood flavors, spices, sweetness, a chocolaty flavor is common, or even fruit or flowery flavors.
Then the proof of the pudding is really how they enhance the flavor of the food you are consuming with them. A good wine makes complements the taste of the food so well, you can tell immediately. Of course, you want to have an idea of what kinds of whine go with what kinds of foods. A couple of wines that go with just about anything you drink is Riesling, or the Italian or Spanish Muscat if you like sweet wines.
I hope this helps. As far as cork is concerned, I will miss the cork, but the screw does make a diference.
Wine producers started looking for an alternative to cork when the trees that they harvested to get cork became more scarce and the cork being produced was lower in quality than that which was used before. Screw tops are better than moldy or bad cork, but they don’t allow a wine to breath when it ages. Wines that are designed to be saved and to age well are very different than most of the wines that are commonly bought. The wines that age need a cork to allow for the expansion of the gases in the bottle.
Related to the difference between a good wine and a worse wine: If you like the taste, it’s a good wine. If it gets you more plastered in fewer glasses, it’s a better wine. If it tastes good and it gets you plastered quickly, it’s a great wine!
I work for Supreme Corq, a synthetic cork company based in Seattle, so have a bit of knowledge on the subject!
Lots of great comment and debate (apart from the one saying anyone who drinks wine is an alcoholic…) on a subject which obviously means a lot to wine-lovers. Natural cork is great – when it works, however too often it spoils the wine due to a mold-like chemical (TCA) and it also has a very variable ability to ‘breathe’. Some natural corks let a lot of oxygen reach the wine, so they oxidize and become vinegar-like very quickly, others don’t let enough in so their fruit-flavors don’t come through when you drink them. Plus, as others have said, good quality natural corks are rare and far too expensive for 99% of all wine bottles.
Screwcaps are cheaper and there’s no problem with availability, but quite apart from significantly degrading the perceived value of the wine (not just my opinion, analyzed and confirmed in a Univ. of Oregon study) they also let almost no oxygen reach the wine. This results in wines that are less fruity and may have rubbery or cabbagey aromas – not pleasant!
Synthetic corks have come a long way since they were first introduced back in the early 90′s. Quality producers like us offer synthetic corks which preserve all of the opening ritual of a natural cork and our current product range includes a cork which enables the wine to breathe and age in the same way as with a high-price natural cork. Without the risk of TCA-spoiled wine. Synthetic corks can also be easily recycled – check out http://www.terracycle.net – and our brand of corks are easy to remove and reinsert too. We think they’re a great solution that preserves the wine as the winemaker intended without taking away any of the romance that makes enjoying a good bottle of wine with friends and family such a unique experience.
Finally, boxed wines are great for some occasions, but as a recent study from Brock University, Ontario, Canada, confirms, they offer very little protection from oxygen and are only suitable for wines with a very short shelf-lfe – think 6 months max from winery to glass.
Cheers!
You poor guy … There is such a difference between wines … how sad to have such an undeveloped sense of taste. I must assume that you use tomato suace on your steaks and eat pies for lunch eh?
I bet you claim to be able to pick your fav beer blind-fold too!
Must be one of those Prisoners of Mother England from Botany Bay who only have a taste for Navy Rum and Ship-Brewed Ale
Screwtops are just part of progress. Unfortunately for the younger people interested in wine, there is a snooty, high brow connotation associated with wine drinkers. These are the same people who are steeped in the tradition of “wine gets sealed with a cork.” Don’t listen to what anyone tells you about wine. Taste everything and for your own opinions. My fiance brought home a screwtop bottle last week called JM Fonseca Twin Vines, and I loved it. Crisp, refreshing, and very reasonably priced. Check them out at http://bit.ly/1D9chX
Remember to form your own opinions about wine. Don’t let some snobby old people ruin your experience and turn you off to a wonderful way to relax and enjoy alcohol.
May I add..there is also A cork shortage from cork trees predomantely in south America, along with A disease that is destroying our cork trees…While the trees still survive, epa istrying to conserve what trees are left.Cork is stripped from the outer bark of the cork trees, and takes years to regrow, now diseases setting in and starting to destroy the trees in the rain forests…Keep using cork, trees will be gone, and the corks we use will eventually disease the wine and add uneccessary bacteria into our wines, thus disflavoring it to start with, if not cause intestinal infections..I love the corked wine myself…but, I don’t want it when the wine begins to make us somewhat ill or even A hance of bacteria being within, not meant to be there..Alot of fine wines have now switched to screw tops..so having A screw top on A wine, does not mean it is”gutter wine” made for the buzz only and cheap..but is in fact due to a shiortage of cork and trees being close to being extinct
There is such a tremendous difference between cheap wine and high quality stuff, that only a lunatic would even ask this question… and yes, I have told other experts for more than 20 years that screw caps are better for the wine. It can very tedious to pay $50 or $100 for a bottle, only to find that the cork ruined the taste.