Corks and Screw Caps

One area where I’m right in line with the industry tradition is the debate of screw caps vs. corks.  I’m so for corks that I’m not even all that crazy about the artificial corks that are pretty common nowadays.  I just think that there is something nice about using the goofy looking corkscrew to open a bottle of wine that makes it a bit more special than just twisting off a lid.

You twist off lids to soda bottles, water bottles, beer bottles, why does wine have to be like the others?  Shouldn’t all alcohol be more properly secured than just a screw cap?  Screw caps aren’t child proof at all, but a cork is.  A pretty weak argument, I know but it is something.  I just like the overly complicated old method of opening a wine bottle that involves cutting away the foil, inserting the corkscrew, and using the leverage on the instrument to pull out the cork.  It is so much more satisfying than just twisting off a cap.

I know all of the statistics that say that wine keeps longer with a screw cap than it does with a cork.  I know the statistics that say wine is less likely to have problems (ie. rot, over oxidization, or be “corked”) with a screw cap, and while it would be a bummer to have a nice bottle of wine go bad solely because of a bad cork, I don’t know how I feel about abandoning corks all together because of this little chance of failure because of the cork.

Corks are also more expensive than screw caps, and like I wrote yesterday, the wine industry is still a business, so I can understand why some producers have moved to screw caps, ditching the corks.  I understand all of the reasons for wine using the screw caps, but I still appreciate those that stick to tradition. 

I’ll admit that most of my attachment to corks is due to the fact that I like to keep my corks and would, someday, like to do something creative with them, so I’m biased there.  I’ll also admit that I like corks because I believe that if the industry is going to move to screw caps, they might as well go the whole nine yards and just move to boxed wine (which is better for keeping wine than bottles), and I just can’t support that at all.

Next time you’re at the store, notice how many wines are now using screw caps.  It’s a trend in the industry that is being backed by some pretty significant studies.  While screw caps do appear to be better than corks, I’m far from wanting to abandon corks.