Franzia's patented twist-spout.

Either.

whatever the bottle I grab comes with

As long as the enclosure has done it's job and I enjoy the contents of the bottle, I could go with either and possibly other enclosure options. The screw tops can be lined with various materials to allow the wine to breathe a little for long term aging, just like a cork. I normally have had screw tops that are 'drink now' wines, but recently purchased some screw top bottles to experiment with in the cellar over time.

I will always have a slight anxiety about either enclosure - will the screw top age as advertised after all the time and storage care given to it? Recent studies say yes, as long as up to date and informed practices are observed. When it comes to the cork, will we have TCA contamination? Has happened before and will happen again.

What, no keg?
When we make our own, we generally use kegs to store it. The oak gives a good flavor!
We then decant it into 5 gallon carboys (you might have seen plastic ones on your water cooler, but they still make and sell glass ones).

We sometimes put it in old five gallon soda kegs and use CO2 to decant it.

either, it seems to be the way the industry is going.

Cork is just nicely nostalgic.

I do worry a little about the plastics in modern enclosures leaching crap into the wine, but that's probably unfounded, and even less so, if the bottles are stored upright, which I think is okay with screwtops. Someone correct me if this isn't right.

I just loved the glass cork stopper that 'used automobile parts' wine uses. That is so darn slick!

I read a few years back that the wine industry will never be able to go totally screw top, the reason being, if someone is paying 100 bucks for a bottle of wine, they can't wrap their head around a screw top, they want the cork presentation and I must admit, I agree

I prefer the synthetic cork to screw.

I sent a nice letter to my favorite vineyard when they converted to synthetic, thanking them for taking steps to eliminate the wasting of my favorite wine. They sent me a wine service and a baseball cap from their gift shop. It seems I was the sole voice gratitude among a multitude of whining complainers.

What about box wine?

As long as it's in a box with a spout I'm happy!

Oh damn! You mean on a bottle of wine! Boy is my face red, I thought we were talking about sex.

As long as wine comes out when I remove the top, I don't care what it's made of

Cork for reds and aged vintages, screw-top for wines not meant to age, like pinot grigio.

Who cares as long as it tastes good!

chardonay wrote:I just loved the glass cork stopper that 'used automobile parts' wine uses. That is so darn slick!

Agreed. I loved it

tiler100 wrote:I prefer the synthetic cork to screw.

I,too, prefer synthetic corks. they are more easily re-used, do not deteriorate and possibly crumble into my wine, and if I remember correctly one brand of synthetic is the Zork!

Screw top w/ a cork.. realy nice.

What, no bottle or box option?

chardonay wrote:I just loved the glass cork stopper that 'used automobile parts' wine uses. That is so darn slick!

You are correct in that these are quite slick, and I have plenty of friends who save the left over bottles to store others in.

My concerns with glass stoppers are the following:

very limited glass selection that these fit into from a bottling standpoint

machinery needed to use these on the bottling line is expensive and not readily available

not sure about the oxygen ingress / oxidation issues with these over the long haul - a much newer type of closure than all others

That said, again, I will agree that they are quite 'cool' . . .

tiler100 wrote:I prefer the synthetic cork to screw.

I sent a nice letter to my favorite vineyard when they converted to synthetic, thanking them for taking steps to eliminate the wasting of my favorite wine. They sent me a wine service and a baseball cap from their gift shop. It seems I was the sole voice gratitude among a multitude of whining complainers.

Did you feel that screw caps were somehow 'wasting' your wines? If so, how? Curious to hear . . .

Cheers!

WizardofCOR wrote:Cork for reds and aged vintages, screw-top for wines not meant to age, like pinot grigio.

Is this based on personal experience or just on the 'conventional wisdoms' of our industry?

This seems to be the way the industry talks about these closures, and I guess I wonder why.

Have you had any reds aged more than 5 years under screw cap? If so, how did they perform?

Curious to hear . . .

This is such a 'difficult' choice to make in all honesty because of the inherent problems with corks . . .

Yes, I only use screwcaps with my wines, but let's forget that for a second. As a consumer, does it not bum you out to purchase a nice bottle of wine, lay it down for a good while, take it out and open it up only to find that it's been corked? May not happen often (probably more often than you think), but to me, as a consumer, once would be enough.

We seem to 'accept' this faulty product as part of the romanticism of the wine world, and I just don't think we should. And let's say you do notice that it's cork and you try to return the bottle . . . . and let's say that the retailer you purchased it from is willing to refund your money or exchange it. They will then try to get their money back from the distributor, who will then try to get their money back from the winery, who will then . . . but the buck stops here. Cork companies take no responsibility with regards to this.

Just my $.02 . . .

People's perceptions about screw caps are starting to change due to forward-thinking winemakers like yourself. I've got a feeling that it's going to be a long slow climb, though.

I am still coming to grips with it myself, my brain is absorbing it better than my heart

I have run across a couple bottles where the screw caps were not tightly sealed, one was so loose that I spilled wine out of it while cleaning dust off the bottle (a Pacific Rim Riesling IIRC), so that concerns me a little.

chipgreen wrote:People's perceptions about screw caps are starting to change due to forward-thinking winemakers like yourself. I've got a feeling that it's going to be a long slow climb, though.

I am still coming to grips with it myself, my brain is absorbing it better than my heart

I have run across a couple bottles where the screw caps were not tightly sealed, one was so loose that I spilled wine out of it while cleaning dust off the bottle (a Pacific Rim Riesling IIRC), so that concerns me a little.

There certainly can be 'issues' with screwcaps as well - they are far from perfect. And I have run across situations where the rollers didn't hit the caps correctly on both areas during the bottling process.

My guess is that wine you had was still okay, correct? Or was it 'bad'?

Curious to hear . . .

tercerowines wrote:There certainly can be 'issues' with screwcaps as well - they are far from perfect. And I have run across situations where the rollers didn't hit the caps correctly on both areas during the bottling process.

My guess is that wine you had was still okay, correct? Or was it 'bad'?

Curious to hear . . .

I can't honestly say, as I was wiping the bottle down in preparation to gift it, which I did after re-tightening the cap securely. So, hopefully....