2006 Monte Antico Toscana

[hotwine]

A gift, 85% Sangiovese, 10% CS, 5% Merlot, screw top, 12.5% alc/vol. Hope it wasn't more than $10. Nice color but very little character on the nose or palate, short finish. With pizza. Any CCR would be an improvement.

Am I the only old fogey who resents screw caps on red wines? I can understand 'em on whites because those usually don't sleep in the cellar for years prior to consumption, but on reds? Please - no thanks.

[Thomas]

That Monte Atico isn't much and it costs about $11 in this market. I've tried several bottlings of it, and have disliked every one of them.

I wouldn't blanket condemn red wines under screw cap. I've been finding some truly nice reds capped that way. The problem right now is that most of the wines going under screw cap are the low end products and so they give a skewed view of the possibilities.

[winoweenie]

Save your breath. Trying to teach old fogies like HW and WW is like draining the Nile with a paper cup. OOPS!!!! Fergit the 2nd guy named above. ww

[Drew]

I'm not a fan either and confess that I like the romance of popping a cork. That said, I also like drinking wines without TCA taint. The only thing that concerns me is that there is no science yet regarding aging wines with screwtops vs corks.

Drew

[Thomas]

Drew,

There is no science at all regarding aging wine in the bottle under cork or screwcap. No one knows what goes on in that bottle--it's still a matter of conjecture mixed with possibilities!

This is known: screwcap is a more air-tight seal than cork, and screwcap does not provide cork taint.

Hotsie, look at it this way: wine's been around for 8,000 years, cork replaced other closures 300-400 years ago. Things change as technology evolves.

[Innkeeper]

I like screw caps on everything including sparklers.

[hotwine]

I don't wish to hold back progress, Foodster. But a natural cork affords the wine a very slow, very faint oxygenation that seems to be essential to the wine's maturation in bottle. The screw-cap would seem to shut that down. So I prefer to continue to roll the dice with TCA and hope for the best when I pop the cork.

[Thomas]

Hotwine,

There's also the possibility that the aging process is helped along more by the natural progression of chemical reactions over time from polymerizing of tannins, etc. and from oxygen that is in solution when the wine is bottled, plus the oxygen in the neck of the bottle.

Because screwcap hasn't been studied long enough, no one knows what its impact on aging is, but there is oxygen in solution under that screwcap too--plus there's that air space in the neck, and it may be enough for the wine's chemistry to move about in there.

However, if wine does not age under screwcap because of air tightness, then chances of degradation are diminished greatly and decanting after opening becomes more important.

Of course, what I've just posted is heavily weighted toward opinion. Still, what goes on in the bottle is not exactly well understood.

[hotwine]

Yeah, there's definitely a whole bunch of FM going on in there.

[VouvrayHead]

I thought they've produce Stelvins that introduce minute amounts of air, much like the cork?
I like the Monte Antico, btw [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]