Parker looks to 2015

That offering was available with cork and with a screw cap. I believe the screw cap was $10 more than the bottles with cork (because of the extra cost?).

And are they still doing screw caps?

"Bill Loftin" skrev i melding news:H3j1d.3668$xH1.34@trnddc03...

Good point and you are welcome :-). But, for some reason, most people I know don't seem to be TCA sensitive...? It could be a trait of Scandinavian genes or that very many people around here have little idea what a good wine should be like (most likely). However, I'll admit to having encountered many unimpressive red wines with little or no fruit - and normally attribute that to "a lousy product, won't buy again" or "poorly stored, bad luck" or "too old, fruit is gone" - where the correct answer would have been TCA, TCA and TCA! Anders

Bordeaux, especially the top flight wineries will never abandon cork as long as the wines are sought after in the world market. I suspect the same goes for Burgundy, and the Rhone. There will be traditional cork supporters throughout other countries where cork is equated to prestige/romance etc.

So if the problem is too little high quality cork and/or expensive technologies to insure reliability; increased use of Stelvins, screwtops and other closures will reduce demand for cork and thus a diminution in the need for inferior cork products to satisfy the market. So quality control measures will weed out the elements that contribute the use of poor material.

So my prediction is less and more expensive cork but a higher percentage of reliability.

Only if improving cork production takes on the objections, quasi-moral and religious, similar to conducting of stem cell research, will the quality of corks remain the same or decline.

By G-d and Ashcroft we may not reduce incidents of Alzheimer's, AIDS, or cancer but when coherent we won't be bitching about a cork damaged bottle of Chateau Ephemeral in 2015.

Yesterday evening: Tasting 27 wines from Styria, Austria, from 27 different producers (25 dry whites, 1 red, 1 sweet TBA). 1 wine oxidized (obviously leaking cork), back-up bottle heavily TCA'ed, third bottle brillant. 4 other wines less than brillant, back-up bottles beautiful. I leave it to your maths to do the statistics.

I don't deny TCA infections of wineries, and apart from the ones you stated there are the well-known examples of Ducru-Beaucaillou and Canon, but all these have in common that TCA is to be found in whole batches, while typical cork TCA (plus oxidation plus fruit scalping) *is* random.

At least I can support my assertions with a statistically valid number of samples per year.

M.

No. After a year or so they start to age much faster, after two years most of the wines I know are prematurely oxidized.

M.

I would taste about 1500+ wines a year. I am sensitive to TCA. I don't get anywhere near the figures for affected wines that you do.

Ron Lel

Yep. You can buy the chardonnay with cork or stelvin. The reserve cab appears to be sold only as a pair of bottles: one of each. See

Michael, you scare me! Most of my producers switched to synthetic corks in the last three years. I need at least five years to drink these bottles. I have the impression that not only wines for fast consumption are corked synthetically, but also those which hold for 5+ years.

Martin

That is a brillant idea. Lay two bottles down side by side the proof is at hand. Great way to change attitudes and work in the new product.

Exactly. I never quite have understood the "but not all TCA-contamination is cork-related" argument against stelvins. Winery contamination is probably the case with most BVs or late-80s Ducrus, but when one bottle of '94 L-Poyferre or one bottle of '89 Talbot out of a case is spoiled, that's the damn cork! My post re the large Bdx tasting Saturday was the first time in recent memory that I didn't run across a single contaminated bottle in a big lineup (about 20 wines). Dale

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I take it they were all sealed with stelvin? (Just kidding!)

Ron lel

So be happy - and let me have srewcaps. At least for pre-ordered/pre-paid wines!

M.

My best wishes to you, but be prepared. And dont tell me I didn't warn you ... ;-(

M.

I have NO PROBLEM with you being able to get your Stelvins when you pre-order.

In my case I am going to order the Plumpjack Cab since they offer a 6 pack wtih 3 Cork and 3 Screw Caps. I should see for myself---Hold 5 years or so and try 1 ea.

Candidly I have not had a screw cap since my days of drinking Riunite Lambrusco. And that as a different type screw cap I think.