Screw Cap vs Cork Closures

Now that's a result not even Kim Yong Il would ever have dreamt of.

M.

You are correct...

8 of 20 is more like it. It was an every day dr>

Btw, what vintages were the reds? Rather bloody youngish, I suppose.

And where did they come from: US, Oz, NZ, other?

M.

1 Aus, 1 NZ, 1 French.

I cannot recall the producers but will speak to the host and try to get.

I beleive the french white was 2002 Domaine Laroche Chablis Premier Cru Les Fourchaumes. Available in both closures.

The NZ and AUS I cannot recall....I did not really care for either if the NZ-AUS wines. But that was because they were to fruity vs earthlike qualities.

And you would be surpised to know that blindly...I actually selected the screw caps as my perferred more times than the cork.

My previous Plumpjack tasting with the 1997 was in my home and I did know which was which and it might have altered my perceptions. Mind of matter :-)

I'd love to do a similar experiment. I'm sure with 20 participants geeky enough to do a tasting based on closures there will be some discussion on the web wine boards re this tasting. I look forward to seeing the wines, as Plumpjack was the only red I was familiar with who issued both cork and screwcap (I know d'Agassac offers a choice in

2004, but not in US yet). There are more whites that are offered under both, but not usually in the same market. The organizer is to be congratulated for his/her efforts, and I'm sure will want the wine world to know their results. Once I see the list of wines I might try and recreate.

The host just informed me that these were the selctions she used:

Whites:

2002 Domaine Laroche Chablis Premier Cru Les Fourchaumes, 2001 Domaine Laroche Chablis Premier Cru Les Vaudevay, 2002 Domaine Laroche Chablis Saint Martin Reds Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2001 Merlot from BC 1997 Penfolds Bin 1995 Penfolds Bin

Host indicated she had plans for alsace PG but the product under cork she had 2 bottles...both were bad so she pulled and replaced with Domaine Laroche.

There were heavy appitizers for each course paired.

thats all.

seeya

Michael. you know sometimes one has an ethical dilemma. If one has resolved to not respond to a troll/liar, and yet they are passing off as true something one finds incredibly farfetched, how does one respond? Is it better to keep one's mouth shut, and let some lurkers get influenced by a post one is pretty sure is....shall we say less than truthful?

Now, I know I should never doubt Mr. Neidich, because Dave from Oregon has declared him beyond reproach -a true upstanding AFWer. But can you fault me for being a little confused? He posts results from a tasting that *exactly* replicate his stated position on closures and aging. But "1 Aus, 1 NZ, 1 French" becomes "All the whites were French/Alsace" becomes 3 wines from Domaine Laroche. Would you forget if all three wines were from same producer in Chablis? And the hard to remember reds became AUS/NZ then turned out to be a Canadian and two AUS reds- the two Aussies again from one very well-known producer. Wow, he obviously didn't spit at that tasting!

Of course, as I said, we should be seeing lots of reports about this event on wine web. Because this must have been a pretty serious tasting- while there have been lots of reports on the Penfolds Bin 389 under Stelvin vs under cork , as far as I can tell only the cork versions were ever released - all of the Stelvin versions were kept for Penfolds' internal trials. The hostess must be VERY connected. I'm sure they furnished it only because this group were seriously investigating aging under alternate closures. I also look forward to those reports so I can find the Alsace PG that was bottled under both closures- as I said, would love to hold this experiment with one of my tasting groups.

Now, I'm sure I'll be embarrassed -nay, humiliated- for doubting the truthfulness of Mr. Neidich when the Charlotte-based distributor of Penfolds and Laroche (perhaps her name is Audrey?) tells of her dinner with Mr. Neidich and others. Otherwise, can we expect a post claiming that evil AFW hackers (or perhaps the perfidious French?) forged his name and IP address, that they parked outside his house and piggybacked onto his router to post these posts, or that it was all in fun?

I personally look forward to reliable reports on the aging of wine under various closures. But a post with constantly changing stories re what wines were involved by a poster who has in my opinion already proven that his word is worthless ("I am not Audrey") adds nothing to the closure debate. I'm sorry to have ignored many people's sound advice to just ignore the dick, but I worried that someone would refuse to buy a screwcap sealed wine based on the "evidence."

As with my posts on the Audrey situation, if I see credible evidence that I am incorrect I will remove myself forever from AFW.

Dale, and who is the real dick here.

The tasting was from an association locally and a local distributor did it at a local country club. Casual event for entertainment.

I am faily sure one of your wine dinners with Betsy is more likely to get published.

Nice that you post on a thread that I started and secondly to attempt to do so when you cannot communicate directly to me.

You are a total coward. end of story.

Another rant and temper tantrum from a coward Dale...you surprise me.

or

M.

Michael, I am not as opposed to screw caps as I used to be after this tasting. I think that in the whites, cork taint is more discernable for me vs big heavy reds. And even from our tasting...I like the whites more in screw caps.

Even the reds, and I must admit I do not really enjoy Aus Wines that much, don't drink them...the cheap or expensive. I still noticed that these wines were different...but the one under screw cap was more structured. So I preferred the screw cap on reds... I like my reds a bit younger on new world wines. Rarely to I find a Cal or Aus wine better at 10 years than at release. The screw cap actually kept the wine from over developing as fast. IMHO.

Anyway...even if it does age differently....that might not be a bad thing for new world wines.....on a GREAT VINTAGE Bordeaux...where I don't consider touching for 10-15 years I might be dissapointed if the aging slowed that much and I did not get to drink in my lifetime.

Thanks for posting the urls for the test.

I don't keep tasting notes really so I could not post mine. All I could say is none of the wines suited me and the purpose was to show the difference. I am sorry for any confusion as I thought that some of the wines were from NZ but they were not. It was French, Aus and BC.

I think my thoughts from a blind tasting totally changed my news on screw caps. :-(

News or Views?

Not a bad thing, I presume!

No, :-) !

M.

My views...I really need to wear my glasses when I type.

Eyesight has been declining since drinking wines that have screw caps. :-)

Holds true for me too. Back in 2003, when I wrote my first article on screwcaps ( for those who read German), my eyesight (with glasses) was perfect.

These days I bought cheapo reading glasses ...

... no, :-(

Seriously!

M.

Michael, so if screw cap wines and cork closures lead to bad eyesight.....

no reason to reduce the amount being consumed cause it would not matter :-)

Plus I am very sloppy on non business typing. I need to enable spell and grammar check on my newsgroup reader. Sorry for the sloppy there.

Nine years ago my eyes began getting worse...I approach 50 years old next year.

Absolutely!

No problem, Dick. My problem frequently is lack of command of the English language, so that I am not able to distiguish between a typo and a play with words. So my questions are not aimed at a spelling flame, quite on the contrary.

So it started at 40 - exactly the age it happened with me. We can be proud of being absolutely average on this point: My ophthalmologist told me, that 40 is exactly the average age presbyopia sets in.

The only problem is that I'm 53 already ... ;-(

M.