Tastevin's cork question

[Thomas]

Tastevin, I used to accept the synthetic stoppers as a reasonable alternative to the tainted cork problem but two things have changed my mind: the synthetic's often insistence on not separating from the corkscrew worm; the news that cork taint is the wrong moniker for a wine taint that can be induced by other means.

As for screwcaps: the jury is not in completely, but if tests prove the screwcap to be neither detrimental nor prone to taint, I say: do it. The cork tradition established itself only about 300 years ago; wine is 8,000 years old. Tradition is only such until it ends.

The whole idea of ritual in popping corks (especially in restaurants) is simply not a strong enough argument to stop the development of a potentially better way of capping a bottle--if the screwcap proves to be a better way.