Dear local purveyor of wine, beer and spirits: Please supply only good wine which should be sold in bottles, not cartons. Wine bottles should be corked, not screw-topped. Boxed and screw-topped wine is cheap and dirty. Now I realize that this is Nova Scotia, where even cheaper, dirtier wine is produced and bought by locals with no palate but there are those of us who have taste. Please cater to us as well. —Jesus Sonovabitch
This article appears in May 21-27, 2015.
Bit of a wine snob…
How can you respond coherently to your own bitch? Do you have a personality disorder? Are you schizophrenic?
Because I have the ability to…?
Still stinging from the first time I corrected you?
You’re a bit behind the times. A lot of high end wineries are using screwtop these days. It keeps the wine fresher after opening, and the chance of the cork reacting with the wine is eliminated. http://winefolly.com/tutorial/corks-vs-scr…
No, you are not a wine snob, you are ignorant.
YUP, screwcaps are pretty common, especially on whites (even Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete).
Can anyone here recommend a nice $6-7 vintage? Thanks.
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Well no, I am not ignorant; I am quite educated, thank you for your concern.
And I understand the concept of using screw tops to eliminate reaction; but for hundreds of years, that hadn’t been a big problem.
I dare say the increased cost of cork was the determining factor, that coupled with an influx ofcheap, commercial wines and indiscerning palates that ultimately effects quality producers’ bottom line.
In any case, there are those of us who prefer other than screw top gutrot, a simple request.
I did clarify in my first comment that I was a wine snob, so I accept the pretentious monicker. IMHO, North America can’t make quality wine, so yes – I am a pretentious snob; but not a douchebag.
The bitch isn’t stupid but rather an opinion with which you disagree. I am not stupid as most well-educated people are not stupid. Only those who are un-educated would come to that conclusion.
I didn’t say people don’t like screw top wine, but that I didn’t. If you read, that point is clear.
I don’t think I’m a sommelier; and I am more of a pot head than a drinker.
What is a try hard?
You know nothing was any finer than a box of Lonesome Charley.
When was the first time you “corrected” me? Would you like to repeat it?
As far as the screw cap vs. the cork is concerned, when I researched and organized our wine tasting club selections for a number of years – we met about once a month complete with background notes and scoring sheets both of my own composition – we never had the former, always the latter. The screw cap does lack a certain romantic dimension associated with the cork – there is a mechanical quality about opening screw-cap bottles – which in any case are found among the less expensive wines (i.e., under $20), well below our habitual fare.
However, one can go amiss with the corked variety. I recall, in the case of my private cellar, that some years ago I had bought a Chateau Lafite 1966 for $200 only to discover that it was “corked” in the negative sense. It was undrinkable. A great deal depends upon the storage of older wines which makes buying at auction a very chancy business.
I mention this to impress upon you both my enormous sophistication and good taste in matters oenological.
Nope nope nope. You said NS wine is cheap and dirty, you said that wine sold with a cork is gutrot. I am not saying you are not entitled to your opinion, merely that your opinion sucks and is factually incorrect. If you are not a big drinkier why are you writing a bitch about your ever so discerning palate? Try Fetzer Zin. 15 bucks. Screw cap. Very nice wine. Cue Montrealman with the whole taste is subjective speech, I guess.
Well no, there’s no need to cue me with my “whole taste is subjective speech” since I don’t believe that is the case. Like everything else, wine tasting is a matter of the interaction of knowledge and experience. Some opinions are therefore “better” in the sense of detecting objective qualities in different wines which function to rank them in ascending categories from plonk to the Grands Crus Classes of Bordeaux. So I reject the “whole taste is subjective” bit.
This is not to say that Fetzer Zin is not a perfectly enjoyable wine. It is, however, to say that Fetzer Zin is a wine of a certain sort which, while good on its own terms, is not and never will be a great wine.
I believe The Flyspeck said that the wine sold with screw-caps is “gutrot,” not the wine sold with corks. It is, of course, a stupid comment that says more about The Flyspeck than it does about wine but, sadly, it is what we have come to expect of him.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed the ritual of pulling a cork. However, I’ve had several instances over the years where wine has gone totally bad in the bottle and been undrinkable (even relatively expensive bottles) and more times where the wine was just a little “off” but noticeable. Apparently, this is not uncommon and the culprit is the cork which can lead to contamination which gives the wine a musty smell and bad taste.
As far as I know this problem would not happen with twist off caps so they do have that advantage.
Cork contamination is also the main reason why someone might send a bottle of wine back at a restaurant. And, if you open a bottle of bad wine at home you can take it back to the wine store. They are aware that this problem happens with a small percentage of wines.
The bottom line for me is that I buy according to the quality and value of the wine in the bottle – not based on the stopper type.
The experts at Wine Spectator Magazine weigh in:
” I think the days of associating screwcaps with cheap and pedestrian wines are over, or at least coming to an end. I can think of plenty of high-profile, expensive, terrific wines with a twist-off, and many cheap and pedestrian wines are under cork.
Producers have switched to screwcaps and other closures to ensure quality and reduce the possibility of contamination with TCA (the chemical compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole), which can get into a wine via a faulty cork and make a wine smell musty and damp.
I still see some hesitation to bottle wines intended for long-term aging under screwcaps—the thinking is that wine collectors who know how wines evolve under cork will be less certain how that same wine would evolve with a screwcap. But as more and more producers are using screwcaps, there are more tastings of wines aged under this topper, and the results are encouraging. From what I’ve seen, screwcapped wines do evolve, just at a slower rate. I’m certainly looking forward to the day when I want to open a bottle of wine I’ve been collecting for a long time and not have to worry about a) the wine having TCA, b) it showing signs of oxidation, and c) fussing with crumbly corks.
That’s not to say I’m a topper snob. I’m still making my wine purchases based on the juice inside, not the way the wine is topped. As far as storing a wine with a screwcap, you don’t have to worry about which way to store it, unlike cork, which might dry out if you don’t store it horizontally. I just use my wine racks for all my bottles.”
http://www.winespectator.com/drvinny/show/id/45520
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I agree with corked wine having a romantic dimension. I like screw top wine too. 🙂
I made good wine in my locker, in high school. It was made AND fermented in the in the same used, plastic, 2 liter pop bottles with a screw on cap. I used to add grape cool-aid for extra flavour. Mmmmmmm, wine-a-licious.
Well, I see that ya’ll have little taste; so be it. Enjoy your rubbing alcohol and grape juice!
my first drunk…
http://abmdomicilios.com/licores/vino-cali…
Dear god, what the hell was I thinking.
I blame boones for my horrific downfall
I drank Great White Shark the first time I got drunk. Chugged a litre of it in grade 9. Only thing I remember is my dad standing over my body while I was lying in my bed covered in puke saying “yup. Drunk as a skunk.” I could not eat for 3 days afterward. Hooray!
THE “EXPERT”
RSVP: Captain Fantastic (05/28, 5:23PM)
Un giorno senza vino e comme un giorno senza sole.”
To speak of an “expert” on wine suggests a technicist approach to that which, as the Italian saying suggests, is more like ” A day without wine is like a day without sunshine.” What would such an “expert” look like? It’s like talking about an “expert” in life. The concept is empty. There are, of course, gradations of knowledge and breadth of experience in wine but to speak of an “expert” is missing the point. It’s like a car mechanic attempting to describe he beauty, say, of an old Triumph sports car. Mechanics is one thing, beauty is another. The two categories are utterly distinct and should never be confused. The same is true of wine.
As far as the screw cap is concerned the “expert” might know all about their microbiological advantages compared to the cork but, like the car mechanic, this is to miss the point. Wine is just not something for drinking. Rather it is an experience which transcends the nuts and bolts of digestion. To drink the wines of Bordeaux is to live in France, to drink the wines of Tuscany is to live in Italy. It is to commune with the life of the land. So it is with the cork. Does one smell the screw cap? Does one read of the wine’s terroir and vintage? Of course, not. The screw cap is part of that technicist approach which deprives the wine experience of its romantic dimensions.
For the record I drink neither beer nor booze. Only wine with meals which, after all, is its natural home. On the other hand beer is all bloat and booze just a harsh dessicating distillate. Begone, both of you!
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
There are some excellent wines made in California, Oregon and Washington. For Zins, Ravenswood Zinfandel is one of my favorites. For chards, I like Sonoma Cutrer and Kendell Jackson. I’ve more or less bypassed the screw tops and gone straight to the box for a vin ordinaire…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2013…
Wine connoisseurs are pretentious twats looking for an excuse to get hammered. No more, no less.
Xeno, your selections are beyond reproach but, and this is important, I don’t see any comparisons with their European counterparts. Valid comparisons, as I am sure you will agree, must be based upon, um, valid comparisons.
I assume you have constructed your own scoring sheet listing Sight, Nose and Palate for each of the wines you mention. Would it be possible to purchase a selection of comparably priced European wines – Bordeaux, Burgundy and Tuscany come to mind immediately – and give us your annotated reflections? Many thanks I advance.
North American wines equate to gasoline and Welch’s Grape Juice. God but does anyone have any taste? MM, I’ll be back up there in a few weeks… let’s have a wine date-night this time…?!
Perhaps we should invite Xeno. She looks like she could do with a few pointers.
Nah, I want you all to myself… 😉
Vintage wine corks make wonderful butt plugs.
Why don’t you stick one into yours?
I like the Italian wine with the pasta & tomato sauce type supper.
French wines are nice with cheeses & appetizers, meals with rich sauces.
But roasted meats, I like the Chilean & Argentinian wines full bodied red’s.
But its all subjective & according to an individuals taste bud’s.
Just because I enjoyed Chateu Neuf du Pape , with a blackened rare cooked Prime Rib, did not
Stop me from trying a Vallapacello Arrone , with a Prime Rib dinner on a different occassion.
Neither great dinner changes my mind on a South American wine with red meat .
After all if It’s food & wine … That’s # 1 & 2 on my favorite things list
What at all does the container have to do with it ????