Stelvin in France

Of course the French can change....they take good cheese and turn it into Roquefort!!

From good to even better! Anders

"Richard Neidich" skrev i melding news:wq52d.2958$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...

Salut/Hi Richard Neidich,

le/on Thu, 16 Sep 2004 00:49:32 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Have you ever _tasted_ the sheeps milk "tomme" that gets made into Roquefort? I have. It's as nasty tasting a goo as I've had for a long time. I have no particular axe to grind for roquefort either for that matter, with most of the stuff available being over salted, crumbly and badly made, in my opinion. While I'd be one of the first to defend really good Roquefort, (pronounced Rockfor, by the way, with a short 'o' in Rock and the 't' silent), the art is to find some. I'm afraid I take no pleasure in the "Société" offerings except from the Cave des Baraugnades (sp) which are marginally edible, and not much from most of the other larger producers. Mike Tommasi will confirm, I am sure, that most of what is sold is a travesty of the real stuff.

The French CAN change, and do change. Often in the wrong direction and usually too little and too late!! Seriously, if Stelvin were NOT a French product, I'd be pretty pessimistic, but as it is, the only brake is the innate conservatism of the typical farmer (worldwide) and the romantic pleasure taken by consumers at hearing the "pop" as the cork comes out when incorrectly pulled.

I've read what you say about the use of corks for the long aging of wines that demand it. It IS possible, IMO, that there will be a difference between a world class red aged 50 years under Stelvin and one under cork. As to which will be better, I don't know, though the experience of Champagne makers with crown caps for 25 yo recently disgorged bottles suggests that it will be a close run thing.

This is the wrong thread really, but I will answer some of your mental reservations about the change, if I can. No I won't. I'll make it another thread, as I suspect my article will be a bit long to be tagged on.

Exactly! :-)

No. They put 24 bottles under stelvin on an experimental basis.

M.

I asked our guide around Pichon Longueville if there were any plans to change to non-cork closures. She looked at me as if I had three heads. That said, given that chateau guides are generally students who probably don't know what's going on at a decision making level there's not much to read into that.

The rest of the tour was excellent tho'.

Dan

No. Stelvins will be better.

As Peter Gago (Penfold's chief wine-maker) said, comparing reds after 8 and 9 years under stelvin and cork: "The wines age slightly differently, like wine wines from a cool cellar compared to a normal one." And this is, imnsho, the greatest compliment one can make to screw-caps.

M.