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+--- Thread: artificial corks (/thread-12858.html)
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- winer - 09-18-2002
Had a few chuckles over the tales of corked wines. I've also heard of the increase in the number of wineries going to screw tops. This made me wonder about the use of artificial corks. I've purchased several bottles recently that have had artificial corks in them. One was a Chilean winery. Has anyone had any bad experiences with artificial corks ?
- Scoop - 09-18-2002
Yes -- getting them out...without destroying the bottle or the corkscrew!
Cheers,
Scoop
- Kcwhippet - 09-18-2002
I have the same complaint as Scoop. Usually I use a ScrewPull or Rabbit, but with the hard rubber (or plastic) artificial cork I now use an Ah-So in order to save the screw. We had one of the artificial corks come close to straightening out the screw on our Rabbit so now we automatically turn to the Ah-So when we see the hard rubber fakes.
- Innkeeper - 09-18-2002
When all else fails, I turn to what I call my monster waiter's pal. It has no name on it. It came with my wine tote from PicnicTime. It is four and quarter inches long with a teak handle. The lever is two and an eighth inches long and a half inch wide. The screw is similarly robust. Have not found a cork, artificial or otherwise, that it won't dispatch post haste facto.
- winoweenie - 09-18-2002
The(*&$@Q)__&$#@(*$( artificial corks have killed 2 of my favorite screwpulls. Bring on the screw-caps. WW
- winer - 09-19-2002
That's very interesting! The artificial corks I've seen have actually worked BETTER that the real thing. The material that the artificial cork is made from (some form of soft plastic?) seems "slipperier" than the cork. I've not had any problem at all getting them out.
- Drew - 09-19-2002
Had one tonight in a South Afican wine that I had to get the pliars to help remove it from the worm...it was a tough rascal. Call me romantic, my wife does, but if these synthetic corks solve the "corked bottle" issue, I've rather have them than the srewcaps just to maintain the ritual popping of the cork at the table. The srewcaps would take me back to a time when Ripple was something more than a stone on still water. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
Drew
[This message has been edited by Drew (edited 09-19-2002).]
- Innkeeper - 09-20-2002
At a gathering recently was asked to open a bottle of Kiwi SB. Noting that it was a screwtop, figured it would be a piece of cake. Wrong! The plastic capsule had been shrunkwrapped onto the screwtop. When I tried to get under the bottom of it with my knife, just a small piece would flec off. Had to scrape and scrape, chip and chip. Finally got it all off, made an awful mess, and calmly unscrewed the top. Sigh!
- winer - 09-20-2002
I agree with Drew. There is just something about the ritual of pulling a cork out of the bottle that is really appealing. (Maybe I'm just a snob.) "Screwtop" has been used as a put-down for so long that I think it would take a huge selling effort on the part of the industry as a whole to overcome the negative attitude. I think artificial corks (assuming they can overcome the problems with them) would be accepted a lot easier.
- winer - 09-20-2002
I agree with Drew. There is something about the ritual of pulling a cork out of a bottle. Unscrewing a screw top will never be able to match that. Just think of all the wine waiters in fancy restaurants who will be out of a job ! ANYBODY (with the exception of IK) can unscrew a screw cap. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
I think artificial corks will catch on much more easily than screw caps, assuming the problems with them can be resolved. Referring to a wine as “screw top†has been used as a put down for so long that it would
take a major selling effort by the industry as a whole to overcome the negative connotations.
- Innkeeper - 09-20-2002
Winer, if you run into one like I did, I hope they make you open it with your teeth. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]
- Thomas - 09-20-2002
The ancient pharmaceutical industry used cork well before the wine industry; claim in the wine industry was that the tradition of olive oil floating on top or wax, or both, to seal in the wine was much more desirable than tree bark. Tradition can die, especially when money is involved.
- vinman - 09-22-2002
Just tonight we opened two reds, normally aromatic, and full of flavors... but both were corked! Now, you say that the wines were transpoted 'hot' or I left them in my car, under the sun, or whatever.
What was true was that the wines were four years old and shipped under less than desirable conditions, in a container without climate control, as much of he lower hemisphere wines are currenly shipped. No surprise. Screwcaps! Stupid as I am,even Randall Grahm understands.
- Thomas - 09-22-2002
yeah but, "corked wine" refers to a specific bacterial problem within the cork; it has nothing to do with how the wine is transported.
- Innkeeper - 09-25-2002
Andrea Immer had an article entitled "Screw It" in the September edition of Esquire. She was very positive about screw tops. Interestingly enough she had a problem getting into the same Kiwi SB that I did. It was Lawson's Dry Hills ($14). Recognized it when I saw the picture.
http://www.esquire.com/foodanddrink/wine/020901_mdr_screw.html
- sharktanq - 09-25-2002
I've used the Cork Pops. Works really well. Compressed air pushes that sucker right up, and sounds kinda like a champaign bottle opening too... ;-)
- winer - 09-25-2002
For those interested in corks, their benefits and problems, (and who wouldn't be [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img] )and an excellent description of how a wine becomes "corked", the wines.com reference section has an excellent article at
http://www.wines.com/cgi-bin/winedef?cork
- thewoodman - 09-25-2002
Glad to hear I wasn't the only one who couldn't get into my Lawson's. On the synthetic cork front, I have never had a problem with the brand that comes in multiple colors (yellow, white, purple) with marbled swirls throughout. The ones that break the screw for me are uniform beige with a spongy looking center with a thin sheath around it. When I see these, I'm tempted to just break off the neck of the bottle against the counter.
- Thomas - 09-26-2002
...which I would have done once if the neck didn't beat me to it and break off right in my hand--blood everywhere!
- winedope1 - 09-26-2002
ouch, Foodie! only met one artificial cork so far. It was no match for my trusty Tupperware (it was beige in color), but I'll watch out for them in future.