There’s nothing like the sound of removing that cork! It’s a symphony of hearing the cork, then hearing the pour, followed by the swish, smell of the wine and finally the taste. Ahhh heaven! but it all begins with the pop of the cork.
Screw caps 100% for me. The newest screw caps are designed to allow aging, and are better than cork in every way, . . . except the aesthetics of cork. I think the aesthetic will change as people realize corks are the inferior option. I mean, we drink wine to drink wine, not to hear corks pop. Also, I think most people greatly over age wine. I've had bottles ranging from a few years, to 70 years, and I'm telling you, super aged wine is rarely any good. People just don't store it well, or it wasn't intended to store for more than a decade, or it wasn't made with precision, and it just isn't very good. For that 1 bottle in 20 that ages beautifully, sure, it's better, . . . but that just doesn't happen often. My rule is if you can't count the aging years on both hands, you might as well drink the bottle.
Agreed. Most bottles are not meant for aging, and screw caps are fine! But I do tend to prefer corks for things 10+. Perhaps my mind will change as a try more long term screw cap wines!
Yes, I have noticed that some new world producers have been bottling age worthy wines under screw cap. I also noticed that a wine critic for Robert Parker wrote a recommendation of cellaring one particular screw top for 20 years. But should I be confident in investing $200 on a screw top for resting long term? They're a relative bargain because of low demand. Also, I don't agree or understand why a little oxygen is beneficial to enter the bottle to prevent so called reduction, as people are now storing wine in the ocean so I would be more concerned of salt water than oxidation. Please explain!
My Spanish father in law absolutely refuses the idea that a wine without natural cork can be good. It's very hard to argue with many Spaniards about anything that is 'de toda la vida' / 'always has been made like this', especially when it comes to food... 😉
Would it not be "closure" rather than "enclosure"? I'm not sure myself, but enclose is more surround and close an area...? And if you use a verb you would "close the wine with a cork" not "enclose the wine with a cork"... I'm not 100% sure though.... Oh and I live in France so yeah, I don't even get to choose!
It's bugged me too much, I had to go to the top and asked the almighty, all-knowing chat GPT.... The correct term is "wine closure." The closure refers to the method of sealing the bottle of wine, such as a cork, screw cap, or synthetic closure. "Wine enclosure" is not a commonly used term in the context of wine. AI has spoken!
@@blurds your instinct was correct, an enclosure surrounds something. A closure seals it. It's wine closure. However, most people use English very poorly, so . . . you can probably get away with either. Personally, I'd notice you using the correct term, and conclude you have a better eye for being precise.
Totally fine! Those wines are already mostly oxidized, so oxygen regulation doesn't really matter. And because this wine lasts for a long time after opening and you only want to pour small amounts at a time, it makes sense to have it be a topper that can open and close many times.
"not proven over the long term"?? Here in Australia the use of screw cap goes back over 25 years. There are two questions you seem to be addressing: 1. What is the most 'romantic' closure? and 2. Which closure best protects the character of the wine? As far as romance goes, if you like the sound of a cork then the discussion is over. Get a wine with a cork. Personally, I find no romance in struggling with crumbling corks and getting to a picnic to discover that no one has brought a corkscrew. But if you are interested in the wine it is difficult to argue that that cork is superior to the screw cap. Even if the failure rate of corks is 1 to 1000 - with what other liquid product would you allow this to be acceptable? Milk? CocaCola? I don't think this would be considered even marginally acceptable and these cost pennies, not dollars like wine. There is no longer any reduction problem with screw caps. In fact, research has allowed bottlers to carefully measure the amount of oxygen giving screw caps far more consistency that any cork enclosure. If you genuinely love the wine more than the bottle opening experience, then screw cap is the rational choice. Best of luck to all you romantics out there!
I don’t disagree with most of what you’re saying, and I have no issue with screw caps! However, there are wines that are meant to last decades or even 100 years (Port) and those haven’t been tested with screw caps yet.
It’s corks for me! The cork industry has come a long way in reducing TCA over the last years, they store the cork bark up off the ground, they no longer use chlorine in processing the corks and they check the corks for TCA. Even the Twin Top corks I use in my large home winemaking hobby only seem to have a problem with about one cork in a thousand.
Would 1 bottle of milk spoiled in 1000 be acceptable in the dairy industry? Or in CocaCola? Or do you believe that wine should inherently be a gamble? A part of its charm?
@@tristramshandy9326 I’m just highlighting that a dramatic improvement has been made. Also I’m only using twin tops, that’s a disk of high quality cork over agglomerate cork, you can get more expensive corks that are guaranteed to not have any TCA. Cork allows the wine to slowly breath which allows for graceful aging.
@@WhatWeDoChannel Cork allows the wine to breathe randomly which produces a variety of results - some of which can be graceful ageing. If it's inconsistency you're after, then cork is your closure of choice.
@@tristramshandy9326 The great wines of the world are almost exclusively aged under cork, all the first growth wines of Bordeaux and the Grand and Premier Crus of Burgundy. The worlds most treasured wines wouldn’t trust their wines to age under any other closure!
There’s nothing like the sound of removing that cork! It’s a symphony of hearing the cork, then hearing the pour, followed by the swish, smell of the wine and finally the taste. Ahhh heaven!
but it all begins with the pop of the cork.
Exactly!
I so agree! Wine drinking is a little bit sophisticated, we aren’t swilling beer or guzzling Coca Cola.🙂!
CORK! As a Portuguese, I can't agree with anything else!
Hear, hear!
haha fair!
Screw caps 100% for me. The newest screw caps are designed to allow aging, and are better than cork in every way, . . . except the aesthetics of cork. I think the aesthetic will change as people realize corks are the inferior option. I mean, we drink wine to drink wine, not to hear corks pop. Also, I think most people greatly over age wine. I've had bottles ranging from a few years, to 70 years, and I'm telling you, super aged wine is rarely any good. People just don't store it well, or it wasn't intended to store for more than a decade, or it wasn't made with precision, and it just isn't very good. For that 1 bottle in 20 that ages beautifully, sure, it's better, . . . but that just doesn't happen often. My rule is if you can't count the aging years on both hands, you might as well drink the bottle.
Agreed. Most bottles are not meant for aging, and screw caps are fine! But I do tend to prefer corks for things 10+. Perhaps my mind will change as a try more long term screw cap wines!
Yes, I have noticed that some new world producers have been bottling age worthy wines under screw cap. I also noticed that a wine critic for Robert Parker wrote a recommendation of cellaring one particular screw top for 20 years. But should I be confident in investing $200 on a screw top for resting long term? They're a relative bargain because of low demand. Also, I don't agree or understand why a little oxygen is beneficial to enter the bottle to prevent so called reduction, as people are now storing wine in the ocean so I would be more concerned of salt water than oxidation. Please explain!
Great video as usual!
Thank you!
Really interesting video! As a Spaniard, I would also have to choose cork
Good choice!
My Spanish father in law absolutely refuses the idea that a wine without natural cork can be good.
It's very hard to argue with many Spaniards about anything that is 'de toda la vida' / 'always has been made like this', especially when it comes to food... 😉
How much is the cost for cork caps which is fit for the bottle same as carlo rossi?
Would it not be "closure" rather than "enclosure"? I'm not sure myself, but enclose is more surround and close an area...? And if you use a verb you would "close the wine with a cork" not "enclose the wine with a cork"... I'm not 100% sure though....
Oh and I live in France so yeah, I don't even get to choose!
I actually think it's enclosure, as closure is more like "the finish of something." Like when people say they want closure to the relationship lol
It's bugged me too much, I had to go to the top and asked the almighty, all-knowing chat GPT....
The correct term is "wine closure." The closure refers to the method of sealing the bottle of wine, such as a cork, screw cap, or synthetic closure. "Wine enclosure" is not a commonly used term in the context of wine.
AI has spoken!
@@blurds your instinct was correct, an enclosure surrounds something. A closure seals it. It's wine closure. However, most people use English very poorly, so . . . you can probably get away with either. Personally, I'd notice you using the correct term, and conclude you have a better eye for being precise.
What do you think about using glass stoppers for aged tawny ports such as Sandeman 20y?
Totally fine! Those wines are already mostly oxidized, so oxygen regulation doesn't really matter. And because this wine lasts for a long time after opening and you only want to pour small amounts at a time, it makes sense to have it be a topper that can open and close many times.
"not proven over the long term"?? Here in Australia the use of screw cap goes back over 25 years. There are two questions you seem to be addressing: 1. What is the most 'romantic' closure? and 2. Which closure best protects the character of the wine? As far as romance goes, if you like the sound of a cork then the discussion is over. Get a wine with a cork. Personally, I find no romance in struggling with crumbling corks and getting to a picnic to discover that no one has brought a corkscrew. But if you are interested in the wine it is difficult to argue that that cork is superior to the screw cap. Even if the failure rate of corks is 1 to 1000 - with what other liquid product would you allow this to be acceptable? Milk? CocaCola? I don't think this would be considered even marginally acceptable and these cost pennies, not dollars like wine. There is no longer any reduction problem with screw caps. In fact, research has allowed bottlers to carefully measure the amount of oxygen giving screw caps far more consistency that any cork enclosure. If you genuinely love the wine more than the bottle opening experience, then screw cap is the rational choice. Best of luck to all you romantics out there!
I don’t disagree with most of what you’re saying, and I have no issue with screw caps! However, there are wines that are meant to last decades or even 100 years (Port) and those haven’t been tested with screw caps yet.
It’s corks for me! The cork industry has come a long way in reducing TCA over the last years, they store the cork bark up off the ground, they no longer use chlorine in processing the corks and they check the corks for TCA. Even the Twin Top corks I use in my large home winemaking hobby only seem to have a problem with about one cork in a thousand.
Yes, I tend to agree...I'll take my chances!
Would 1 bottle of milk spoiled in 1000 be acceptable in the dairy industry? Or in CocaCola? Or do you believe that wine should inherently be a gamble? A part of its charm?
@@tristramshandy9326 I’m just highlighting that a dramatic improvement has been made. Also I’m only using twin tops, that’s a disk of high quality cork over agglomerate cork, you can get more expensive corks that are guaranteed to not have any TCA. Cork allows the wine to slowly breath which allows for graceful aging.
@@WhatWeDoChannel Cork allows the wine to breathe randomly which produces a variety of results - some of which can be graceful ageing. If it's inconsistency you're after, then cork is your closure of choice.
@@tristramshandy9326 The great wines of the world are almost exclusively aged under cork, all the first growth wines of Bordeaux and the Grand and Premier Crus of Burgundy. The worlds most treasured wines wouldn’t trust their wines to age under any other closure!
Just Cork it!!!
❤🇱🇨!!!