Discussing Cork vs. Screwcaps during a Grab Bag Wine Tasting

Discussing Cork vs. Screwcaps during a Grab Bag Wine Tasting – Episode #654

April 7, 2009

Gary Vaynerchuk and Liza “The Wine Chick” Zimmerman taste 3 totally different wines and debate the relative merits of cork and screwcap enclosures.

Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version.

Comments on this episode(254) Leave a comment ›

“GV, I really find it hard to believe that screwtop wines flavors are g…” by eharms
“I enjoy the show, and Gary’s always very entertaining. I love the Pet…” by Ben
View all 254 ›

Wines tasted in this episode:

2007 Mythic River Sauv BlancGreek White Wine
2006 Bleasdale Langhorne Crossing Shiraz/ CabernetAustralian Red Meritage
2007 Descendientes De Jose Palacios Bierzo PetalosBierzo

Links mentioned in today’s episode.

254 Responses

Pages: « 11 10 9 8 7 [6] 5 4 3 2 1 » Show All

April 8, 2009

castello
One of your old world guests said that the poop play is actually from bad or dirty wine practices. Now I read about Brett and it may have a play in this situation.
http://www.wineintro.com/glossary/b/brett.html
Maybe just dusty wine glasses… yum
April 8, 2009

Logan
Great show, lots of juicy nerdy wine talk! Liza was fun and charming.

QOTD: Amarula!
April 8, 2009

rimarfish
Great episode! I really enjoyed it…
April 8, 2009

SteveW Colorado
So far my favorite episodes are when you have the geekiest of wine geeks on…

- Henrick
- Nicolas Joly
- Lisa

I really like it when your guests are reputable, knowledgeable, and willing to disagree with you. That’s why I never want you to have me on the show – I’d just smile and nod the whole time.
April 8, 2009

Kyle Bottoms
wicked episode! loved the debates, loved the discussion. It’s great when you get to feature guests who know their stuff and watching different palettes in action. keep it up Gary.

Now if only my Flames could be on their game as often as you are…

Kyle
April 8, 2009

John Rogers
Great episode with Lisa. I kind of agree with you about corked wine, I have rarely had one but if you wiff it you will know. I have probably had three or four wines in the past 10 years that I concidered corked. I disagree with Lisa about screw tops. I have had wineries change to screw top from cork and have not notice any noticeable change in quality.

QOTD I have know idea and to lazy to look it up.
April 8, 2009

malliemcg
Cork vs ScrewCap: There have been studies running for some time side by side trialling screwcap vs cork. Currently they don’t date back that far (70’s) and there is some consensus that ScrewCaps have it, the only real way to tell is to have several vintages bottled side by side (hopefully in some meaningful way – odds and evens) cork and screwcap of big high end wines and see how they develop.

As for the reductive characteristics – from what I’ve read it’s the amount of nitrogen compounds in the grapes depending on vintage/season (cooler = more nitrogen therefore more reductive action) that often blows off. There is also some research into filtering through copper piping to remove some of these compounds to prevent the wine from going reductive.

The thing is study is needed.

GV – No way in hell is it only 1 in 2500 bottles. From what I’ve seen it’s producer, bottler and cork related. Some vintages/producers seem to have “off years” and it’s definitely the TCA (wet newspaper/rotting cardboard action) as some bottles just don’t show it.
April 8, 2009

John Hanna
Cheep wine + poor storage = high percentage of corked wines

These are the wines that need screw caps. I once opened four corked bottles in a row. Though some people guzzle it down like everything is fine.

I prefer scewcaps for 95% of the wines I drink.
April 8, 2009

Alex from Montreal
Amazing Guest Gary. I think that the cork vs. screw top debate was a wicked addition to this show. I don’t know if you’ve herd about the stelvin cap but it is a screw cap that allows air into the wine for aging. A lot of New Zealand producers are using it. I think even Craggy Range in the Hawkes Bay region are rockin’ the stelvin aging screw cap. I think it would be pretty cool to do a tasting after a few years, one with cork one with the stelvin just like you suggested earlier in this episode.

Again, great episode and keep bringing the thunder with amazing guests like her!
April 8, 2009

Don
Gary — could you do a birthday shoutout to my girlfriend Sarah Horsey on the Thunder Show Wednesday? That would be a strong to quite strong play. Thanks!!!

Cherries, beef jerky, poop, mixed it all together and eat it, haha. That is good stuff.
April 8, 2009

JD_Jonny
Gary – I’m not sure its accurate to say that 0% of screw top wines are corked. When I was at Ampelos, Rebecca Work and I were talking about it. She said that the TCA that causes wines to be “Corked” actually occurs because of an interaction between mold that can develop in the wine and the chlorine that sometimes is used to clean corks. She said that if mold develops within the barrel or bottle interacts with chlorine that is sometimes used to clean screw-tops, then you can have “corking” of a screw top bottle of wine.

Now that is wine-nerdy…

Great show!

Jon from Denver
April 8, 2009

craig paddock
I think this show showed how Gary can in one instance be the most humble person ever (thankful for his fans that watch), and then at the same time…call his fans JERKOFFS.

Gary, I’m only calling you out; because I care about you.

Peace
April 8, 2009

craig paddock
I loved harry’s response…it reminds me of the smart people in my online classes at the university of new orleans. Harry, you are just plain wise.

great.
April 8, 2009

passthecab
amarula!!! I love that stuff, the gold rope baby!!!
April 8, 2009

shooter
I have to disagree about the 1 in 2500 bottles being corked. We tasted 15 Bordeauxs last night and 3 were corked – two of them very badly. I’ve yet to have one at home though – I must have good karma.
April 8, 2009

Harry
Nice show and good debate, although Gary you did tend to domineer a bit much. Just a bit. But I liked the back and forth – great job Liz standing behind your opinions.
As a somm, I’ve seen some wineries have more 5% corked, and some be much lower, with almost never detecting a corked bottle. More common with cheaper bottles, where they are not buying top quality corks. I personally think any bottle under $50 or so should be screw capped for this reason. I always held onto the corked ones to be sure, since the TCA blooms after a few hours and confirmed (or occasionally disproved) my initial reaction.
More often though are dry or leaky corks, which trash the wine. Or even more common are mishandled bottles, especially from a few distributors who don’t take care to keep their wines under good temp controls. The last was very common from at least one major distributor, and whole palates of wines would be cooked. And few wine shops knew or cared, much less the people buying the wine who knew even less. So yes, a significant percentage of bottles are damaged and few people know, they just think its not very good wine. I’m surprised this hasn’t come up more often on WLTV actually. But that’s just my few years of experience.
April 8, 2009

Riddler
Great show today, Gary! I really enjoyed the cork vs. screw cap debate.

Question for you…will a wine that has been subjected to seasonal changes in temperature taste like a corked wine when it’s opened? How long can a wine survive in a NYV apartment where you can’t control the thermostat in winter and have no AC?

I ask because a few years back – when I lived in an apartment without air conditioning – I noticed some of my wines had a sour taste to them. I began to wonder if the 80 to 90-degree summer weather followed by fall & winter (when my apartment hovered in the upper 60s) caused the wine to age prematurely. Or perhaps the fluctuating temperature contributed to loosening the cork, so the wine became corked that way.

Thanks!!
April 8, 2009

Big Ben
Really enjoyed the show Gary. You two seemed to have a great chemistry so far as guests go and she definately knew what she was talking about, which I like.

QOTD: Come on Gary…that’s easy it’s the Marula fruit!…by the way where can I get my hands on some of that Amarula liqour?
April 8, 2009

Mike S
Nice show Gary! Enjoyed the debate over screw tops vs. corks. I was wondering if you are planning on doing anything special for your 666th episode? I know its a weird thought but it might be fun. I think you should do wines that are TRULY scary both in taste and price.

QOTD: Amarula. (And yeah, I googled it.)
April 8, 2009

Andy Plymale
Great exchange of ideas! And great new term for the lexicon: “artisanal jerky”!
April 8, 2009

David T
Good guest- I feel like I learned so much from you two! In the two years since I turned 21, I’d guess I’ve probably popped just over 100 quarks, & I don’t think I’ve had a single quarked wine, so Gary, I’m with your %. I do love screw caps, & seem to remember a producer interview where they have been using them for near a decade and feel their wines are aging just as well as they have with quarks.

QOTD: I did have to Google it, but it looks like Marula. Want to do a repeat of episode 148 & add it to the palate?
April 8, 2009

manonthemoon
Decent show, I can’t believe there was no talk about glass closures in that discussion. I drink all three major types, and have luckily only had 5 or so bad bottles. Of course I know a couple of winemakers who say that is 5 too many.

QOTD: Don’t really know or care
April 7, 2009

sam
Very fun show!

Nice guest, good debates. We need a cork vs. screwtop show: Same wine, different closure (like that’s possible).

I’ve had the Pétalos before. My opinion: IT ROCKS! Try opening it 8-18 hours before. Amazing difference. Very animal, rusty, meaty, wild berries…Big and respectable!

QOTD:The BAOBAB has three times as much vitamin C as an orange, 50 per cent more calcium than spinach and is a plentiful source of anti-oxidants…Yeah, that’s the one! (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-tree-of-life-and-its-super-fruit-869737.html)

Fun!
April 7, 2009

Mary Ann
One more response- This to @A dumb Rhine king- I was thinking the same thing about wanting to have corky wine to taste so you could learn to appreciate the difference. At SXSW, at Cork & Co. (aptly named and apparently one of Gary’s haunts), my friend spotted a corky wine. The owner came over and smelled and tasted it and immediately agreed. I really believe he truly agreed (not just trying to disguise a substandard wine) We had ordered the same wine a few nights before and liked it, so my friend based his assessment on that. When the owner went to remove my glass of corked wine, I asked him to leave it and became slightly obsessed with comparing them. The difference was very subtle to me (subtle enough that I wouldn’t have independently called it). I wonder how much of the ability to tell the difference is acquired, and how much is that some people might have a naturally more nuanced palette? Gary- how much do you think is learned? Can everyone really learn? I’ve heard that some people have more taste buds than others (literally I think). Just got me thinking.
April 7, 2009

Alan C
This show brought the thunder! great guest, i enjoyed ever minute and all the discussion