Why can't I get over my snobbishness over screw top wine?

[VR6time]

Good foodie folks of PH.

I don't drink all that much so when it comes to the weekend and I'm choosing what wines to have I always seem to go for the same ones, unless I go to a different supermarket.

I have a couple of rules, don't buy wine under a fiver and because of this I pre-judge any wine with a screwtop as cheap and nasty.

I am sure I'm missing some lovely wines because of it and would like some advice please.

Please can you offer me some good reasons to pick a screwtop and help me break this?

[Pothole]

http://www.villamaria.co.nz/

[RobDickinson]

Perhaps its jus a new world thing but most of the wine here (including some world class ones) are all screwcap.

[calibrax]

Why the £5 rule?

A higher price does not automatically mean a better product. It's psychological trickery, making you think "I'm spending more money therefore it must be better".

It's like those people who claim they can feel the power increase from V-Power fuel. Placebo effect.

[thehawk]

Pretty unfounded these days, some of the worlds best wines are now screw caps.

http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/485719/scre...

[Engineer1]

Foolishness, corks only matter if the wine is being laid down to mature, if you are buying it to drink tomorrow then a screw cap makes sense as the wine is delivered as the makers sealed it.

[V8mate]

Screw cap offers much better quality control than cork and the latter is often the cause of wine 'going off' (because of some inherent bacteria(?))

[VR6time]

Hmm, interesting points, cheers.

Why the £5 rule? I don't know. I only drink at the weekend so sort of feel I am deserving of more than cheap plonk, and the other part about the cork is the occasion of opening it.

Villiamaria, interesting site, thanks. And that decanter article about the higher quality closure, meaning you get wine the way it was intended is a fairly strong arguement.

I can see that many good wines choose to use screwtop to prevent corkage, but somehow it still cheapens the experience a little, especially at a restraunt.

I guess ill just have to get over it, I'm obviously cutting wines out without good cause.

thanks.

Edited by VR6time on Sunday 15th May 11:41

[Pothole]

the VM Sauv Blanc is bloody delicious, but not worth £9 imho...it was a half price offer in Sainsbury's last year but nobody has it discounted now except by the case it would seem

[Noger]

Engineer1 said:

Foolishness, corks only matter if the wine is being laid down to mature, if you are buying it to drink tomorrow then a screw cap makes sense as the wine is delivered as the makers sealed it.

Sort of. Many wines are given bottle age at the vineyard before being released and for something like an oaked Chardonnay it needs more oxygen than a Stelvin will (currently) let in otherwise it will taste like oaky camel piss. Give it longer, and yes, the more consistent Stelvin will do the same, but there are clearly matters of economics here in terms of keeping (and not being able to sell!) your wine for maybe 2 or 3 times as long.

Ordinary Screwcaps are cheaper, so you will find them on cheap and nasty wine. But you will also find them on most top Kiwi wines (which don't need as much bottle age, not to say that they won't mature interestingly) and they clearly help in a number of areas. So you can't really say, without knowing the wine, if the screwcap is good or bad. It is what it is.

Until such time as the "premium" screwcaps (as used by a tiny number of Chablis producers) are cheaper than corks I can't see a mass switch in France. Their wines are too reliant on bottle ageing as aided by the cork's porosity.

[miniman]

Grab yourself a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

[mattdaniels]

As long as the neck is wide enough to get your straw in, what are you worried about?

[Mobile Chicane]

Cork's good.

The Iberian cork forests provide habitat for the remaining few of this little chap:

[LooneyTunes]

Noger said:

Engineer1 said:

Foolishness, corks only matter if the wine is being laid down to mature, if you are buying it to drink tomorrow then a screw cap makes sense as the wine is delivered as the makers sealed it.

Sort of. Many wines are given bottle age at the vineyard before being released and for something like an oaked Chardonnay it needs more oxygen than a Stelvin will (currently) let in otherwise it will taste like oaky camel piss. Give it longer, and yes, the more consistent Stelvin will do the same, but there are clearly matters of economics here in terms of keeping (and not being able to sell!) your wine for maybe 2 or 3 times as long.

There are some concerns about the integrity of the seal of a Stelvin over the very long ageing for top end reds - although some of the top makers are conducting long term trials (Penfolds being one that springs to mind with Grange).

Personally for me it comes down to a freshness thing. Something that needs that freshness and zing, like Gewurtz or Sauv Blanc etc and I'm quite happy with screw caps. Most others I prefer cork - mainly because I've been quite lucky in terms of taint rates and like more mellow flavours but, more importantly, I actually enjoy pulling corks.

[NDA]

Corks for casks were invented in around 4BC, screw tops for wine were first trialled on decent wine in the 1970's and only on Grand Cru since 2001.

It could be argued that cork is more proven....

Most of the better Bordeaux wines, for example, only come with corks - so it might, for some, be an indicator of quality.

[Don]

Buy some Henschke wine. Barossa stuff from Australia. They sell things under a screw cap that will

(1) Make your eyes water at the price
(2) Make you believe an angel is crying on your tongue

Don't spend £150 on a bottle of Hill of Grace. Get yourself a Keynton Shiraz. Mmmm. Say £30 or so?

Google it. Or consider calling Lay and Wheeler of Colchester.

[fatandwheezing]

Hope this link works - a glass stopper, so simplistic and replaceable like the screw top, but a lot nice looking.

http://www.whitehalllane.com/our_wine/vino_seal.php

Don't know how common this might be though.

[anonymous-user]

miniman said:

Grab yourself a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

Which was around £5 a few years back (I drank a ton of the stuff!), but as it's become recognised as a decent wine is now £10, and in a restaurant I visited in the USA last year, £35!

So, price, like many industries, is often set at what the market will tolerate.

[Steve Evil]

calibrax said:

Why the £5 rule?

A higher price does not automatically mean a better product. It's psychological trickery, making you think "I'm spending more money therefore it must be better".

It's like those people who claim they can feel the power increase from V-Power fuel. Placebo effect.

The £5 thing applies quite well to wine though, think about the costs of the bottle, shipping etc. Say that's £3 of the cost regardless of the overall price, that leaves you with a £2 wine. A £7 wine will therefore be twice as 'expensive'. Spending just a little bit more usually means you're getting a much better wine.

[miniman]

yellowbentines said:

Which was around £5 a few years back (I drank a ton of the stuff!), but as it's become recognised as a decent wine is now £10, and in a restaurant I visited in the USA last year, £35!

So, price, like many industries, is often set at what the market will tolerate.

Yeah, it still crops up on offer for six quid from time to time, but sells out fast.