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I'm going to smack the next B*&#% to recommend a Pinot


Brady

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My wife just said that. "This Riesling you bought has a SCREW CAP??? What kind of crap is this?"

 

Screw Cap FTW. F the snobs who think cork is superior.

 

Jesse

 

Actually the Screw Cap is pretty awesome for white wines that don't age well, like Rieslings, Gewurztraminzer, etc. and is the best closure device for those wines. However, age worthy red wines suffer when put in the sterile environment of screw caps.

 

One of the wine makers (really an artisan) we have purchased Zinfandel from for the last 10 years has experimented with cork, synthetic cork, and screw tops. Using the same barrel lots he has bottled the Zinfandel using all three, then compared them over the years.

 

His analysis over the last five or so years is that the screw tops are sterile, the wine is basically in suspended animation. I'll come back to this in a minute.

 

The synthetic corks tend to do the best job for just a short time maximum of about two years, but then weird shit happens. He thinks the synthetics breakdown after a couple of years and then funky stuff happens.

 

Traditional corks work best over the long haul. It allows the wine to naturally respirate causing oxidation of the wine which mellows the tannins and allows the flavanoids to fully develop.

 

However, corks are fairly notorious for gathering fungi causing that occasional basement smell in wine. This winemaker checks all his corks he purchases by randomly sampling the lot and soaking them for a month in wine before he uses the batch to bottle with. Why ruin a $25 bottle of wine with a $0.75 cork?

 

So getting back to screw tops, his feeling is that the screw tops don't allow the wine to start the slow oxidation process which softens the wine. This can be circumvented a bit by opening the wine many hours before dinner and decanting it.

 

I've got some monstrous Cabernet Franc that just opened has unbelievable tannins. I usually open one the morning before dinner and let it sit all day long with the cork out. By dinner it is like butta'

 

Screw caps will become more prevalent as consumers adopt Jesster's attitude toward them. It is a matter of getting over the fact that you won't go through the ritual of pulling a cork, but doing a MD 20/20 move and cracking the seal on that aluminum screw cap.

 

I wish more wineries would start using them for whites.

-Zin

06 LGT LTD GRP 5MT

07 FXT LTD OBP 4EAT

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Ok I was enjoying this thread and now that I have a bottle of Pinot Noir that is like a Pinot Noir I was hoping to read more of it so post you wineos.

 

Try getting your hands on a bottle of Lynmar "Quail Hill Vineyard" Pinot Noir.

The last several years have been incredible. This is the wine my wife refers to as "Liquid Sex".

 

http://www.lynmarwinery.com/

 

You may find it here, they purport to carry it

 

Winebow, Inc.

236 West 26th Street, Suite 401

New York, NY 10001

212-255-9414

 

My second best would be Dehlinger "Goldridge" Pinot Noir.

 

Either one of those are going to set you back a bit of coin. However, you will remember them.

-Zin

06 LGT LTD GRP 5MT

07 FXT LTD OBP 4EAT

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This is what I am drinking at the moment. http://www.cartlidgeandbrowne.com/index.cfm?method=pages.showPage&pageid=aa196c58-9456-d0c0-42e5-519db13af6cd

 

Its a low priced Pinot yet it is really a nice Pinot. A nice smooth, fruty, light wine with a slight hint of spice. It's been a while since I was drinking wine and this Is the first glass so it still needs to decant a little. I think that it will be a little sweeter as it does.

 

I will probably try the first one you sugested, and maybe suggest it to the resturant I work at as an addition to the wine list at my job, partially so I can get it at cost :lol:

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Guest JessterCPA
Actually the Screw Cap is pretty awesome for white wines that don't age well, like Rieslings, Gewurztraminzer, etc. and is the best closure device for those wines. However, age worthy red wines suffer when put in the sterile environment of screw caps.

 

One of the wine makers (really an artisan) we have purchased Zinfandel from for the last 10 years has experimented with cork, synthetic cork, and screw tops. Using the same barrel lots he has bottled the Zinfandel using all three, then compared them over the years.

 

His analysis over the last five or so years is that the screw tops are sterile, the wine is basically in suspended animation. I'll come back to this in a minute.

 

The synthetic corks tend to do the best job for just a short time maximum of about two years, but then weird shit happens. He thinks the synthetics breakdown after a couple of years and then funky stuff happens.

 

Traditional corks work best over the long haul. It allows the wine to naturally respirate causing oxidation of the wine which mellows the tannins and allows the flavanoids to fully develop.

 

However, corks are fairly notorious for gathering fungi causing that occasional basement smell in wine. This winemaker checks all his corks he purchases by randomly sampling the lot and soaking them for a month in wine before he uses the batch to bottle with. Why ruin a $25 bottle of wine with a $0.75 cork?

 

So getting back to screw tops, his feeling is that the screw tops don't allow the wine to start the slow oxidation process which softens the wine. This can be circumvented a bit by opening the wine many hours before dinner and decanting it.

 

I've got some monstrous Cabernet Franc that just opened has unbelievable tannins. I usually open one the morning before dinner and let it sit all day long with the cork out. By dinner it is like butta'

 

Screw caps will become more prevalent as consumers adopt Jesster's attitude toward them. It is a matter of getting over the fact that you won't go through the ritual of pulling a cork, but doing a MD 20/20 move and cracking the seal on that aluminum screw cap.

 

I wish more wineries would start using them for whites.

 

This is the best response to a post I have read in a long time. I genuinely learned something here. It never occured to me that an inherant "fault" with cork may actually allow a good red to oxidize they way it needs to to age well. At first, I was like, "sterile?? WTF is he talking about??", but now I get your argument. Excellent perspective. Thanks.

 

Jesse

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