Re: The new Duval-Leroy Champagne Stopper

There is a good video from the presentation. It's indeed a crown cap with handle:

M.

Ah yes, BB,, he who answered the question "What is Sekt"? with "The name given to bad quality sparkling wine in Germany".

I think he has a very good palate, but everything I've ever seen him write and say publicly is franco-centredly chauvinist to a degree that makes the UKIP seem like dangerous Europhiles.

Has he conveniently forgotten that all champagne is aged under crown stoppers, some for up to 25 years or more?

Deary me.

-- All the best Fatty from Forges

You're welcome!

M. (Sorry for being late, but I just finished our largest annual blind tasting, grouping nearly 1,700 Austrian wines.)

So, what is wrong with the plastic "champagne corks" like used in some less expensive California sparkelers which these levered crown caps fix???

Caution, I dont quite get your question.

If you are talking about all-plastic corks that look like real corks under the foil, they have a well known inconveniency: The don't keep the CO2 pressure in the long run. After a year or two, there's not much bubbles left.

If you are talking about the "Maestro" thing from Alcan, there is a plastic insert in the crown cap, known as "bidule" in France and always used for second fermentation in the bottle. But the pressure tightness (over decades) is assured by the crown cap, not by the bidule.

M.

I /think/ he's talking about polyethylene "corks" that have a shape similar to the real thing, and are similarly secured by a wire. They are not the same as the plastic corks in still wines, because they are hollow (since polyethylene is much more dense). The procedure for opening them is the same as opening the real thing - you remove the wire, and then coax the "cork" off. (It will pop and fly away - or not - depending on your skill.) I don't really remember what they look like on the cheap California bubblies (I've opened such a couple of times), but I'm pretty sure that's what they looked like on commie-time Eastern European "champagnes" - mostly Soviet and Bulgarian.

Thank you. That's what I was talking about. Sparklers closed with these have a very limited shelf life. They're ok for early-to-drink cheapos, but definitely a no-go for better stuff.

Btw, you can find them not only in Calfornia and Eastern Europe, but in Germany, Italy and Austria as well.

M.

Yup, that was what I was talking about, and I had no idea that they didn't keep the pressure in for long. I'm going to have to stick a couple of bottles of Korbel away for a few years to test it for myself...