Screwcap Watch!

Saw these today in Trader Joe's:

Puzzle Tree Chardonnay, Mendocino
Wildhurst Sauvigon Blanc, Lake County
Castoro Cellars Fume Blanc, Paso Robles
La Ferme Julien Blanc and Rose, Luberon and Ventoux
Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone
La Tour de Prevot Rose, Costieres de Nimes
Contadino Pinot Grigio, Italy

And for honorable mention, Cool Fish wines, with brightly colored fake corks.

Have you seen any new screwcapped wines lately???

Fairvalley Pinotage South Africa.

03 Kessler Rheingau riesling. Lovely corkfree thing.

Too many to list but I did try an impressive Dr Loosen L Riesling 2005 with screwcap and saw an empty bottle of Schloss Vollrads with Vinolok - the first one I've seen. The guy who had the empty blue-green bottle said the contents were pretty good too. Would have liked to seen the Vinolok made from glass that matched the colour of the bottle, though.
And the first NZ bubbly with crown cap, Cuvee Number Eight from Marlborough, has just been released.

Cheers,
Sue

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this one yet but the Seghesio Sonoma County Zin comes in a choice of screwcap or cork for 2004. I picked screwcap for the ones I took home.

I guess I mentioned it already, but it fits nicely here: Grange, beginning from vintage 2005, will be offered as future with the choice of closure.

Woohoo, Sue! An alternative closure hat trick---screwcap, Vinolok and a crown cap bubbly. You go, girl.

In this, and the previous thread wherein I began listing the screwcappded wines, you might have noticed that I listed few, if any, NZ and OZ wines. That was for the same reason you cited: there are just so many. I've come to expect the Down Undahs to be the unabashed leaders in screwcap closures.

And in Trader Joe's it was the same: most of the New Zealand, and quite a few of the Ozzies, were under screwcap.

Hoke, Wine.com has added screwcap as a descriptor on its wine offerings -- 128 different labels at the moment as I write:

http://www.wine.com/wineshop/product_list.asp?N=7155+44

Sorting by price, high to low, makes interesting reading.

A couple of questions; as a word lover do you prefer "screwcap" or "screw cap" or "screw-cap"?

I also read an interesting note in the "Journal News":

Q. Earlier this year you recommended a 2005 French rosé, wine, and it was wonderful. If I purchase a case — some for the rest of the year and some for next spring/summer — will it keep? If so, please recommend the best method of storage.

A. It will definitely keep, and having a rosé, to enjoy throughout the year is a great idea. Although rosé,s are seen by many as strictly spring and summer patio fare, they are enjoyable year-round. Rosés pair well with poached salmon, light meats and even the Thanksgiving turkey.

As to your second question, I recommend buying a good rosé, in a screw-cap bottle and storing it in the refrigerator. Although refrigerator storage usually is not a good idea, it doesn't seem to affect screw-cap wines, and the cool temperature will preserve the youthful exuberance that makes roses so enjoyable. Best of all, unlike cork-finished wines, screw-cap wines can be stored upright, which saves precious refrigerator space.

I certainly agreee with the idea of keeping rosé year around, but I wonder about the comment that refrigerator storage doesn't seem to affect screwcap wines. Any insights?

Regards, Bob

Bob :

You sure ask a lot of questions.

I'd certainly agree about the rose being good year round...with the understanding that it's not to be a 'cellared' wine, that is, aged, but one to be maintained short term for consumption.

I don't think it's a mistake that the French, reputed to be natural wine lovers, drink more rose than just about anybody. They know both how delicious it is and how versatile and charming it is with a variety of foods.

The fridge thing? I think that's more about the cork, and absence thereof, than the wine, Bob. The cork is the only thing of concern, because it's the only thing that reacts to the humidity and could allow oxygen exchange.


And as one in love with words, I can safely say I prefer whatever form I most recently used...until I use another form, that is. I have a little enough mind, but consistency is not one of its hobgoblins. What's fascinating to me about screw cap/screw-cap/screwcap is being able to watch the amazingly rapid evolution of a word form in real time and see how humans modify/change/alter a word unit. Moving almost instantly from "screw cap" to the non-spaced single word "screwcap" by jamming the words together is, god help me, the linguistic version of watching a multigenerational Mendelian experiment (which shows how geeky I am).