For years the traditional wine business has frowned upon the idea of screw tops as only suitable for bulk wines and those made for drinking young. However, the Telegraph (8 July 2008) reports that even die-hard top French vineyards are now looking at the option of abandoning the cork.
But according to one wine expert, two of the world’s top names – Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy, whose bottles can sell for tens of thousands of pounds, and Bordeaux’s legendary Chateau Margaux – are now looking into screw tops.
Although the “romance” and reassuring sound of a cork being pulled would be lost (and it would be a major blow to Portugals’ economy where most corks come from), the real reason is that too many bottles are spoiled by cork taint which has proved to be difficult to eradicate. Some industry figues suggest that up to 10% of bottles are affected in some way, which is a sobering figure!
For consumers there is undoubtedly a convenience factor – no more corkscrews to find, no difficult corks to shift – and quicker transit from cellar or fridge (or shopping basket) to glass. And with luck the wine will be more in line with what the winemaker intended.
