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.

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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
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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

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April 8, 2009

MBannon
GREAT episode!!! Got to be one of my most all time favoritest. The conversation really clicked, AND it was interesting. AAAaand educational. Bonus!
April 8, 2009

RobRx
Love your show, but either tell your guests to learn chemistry or keep it off the show. Your guest had no idea what she was talking about in saying that “screw caps caused reduction flavors”.

In chemistry an oxidative reaction is one in which an element(most commonly this is best understood in metals like iron where oxidation is called “rust” where atoms leave the metallic state and the metal deteriorates)loses electrons and becomes a positivly charged ion. An oxidation process cannot take place without a simultaneous reduction (a gain of electrons)process.

To say that a plastic covered screw cap causes reduction is ignorant pop science.
April 8, 2009

Doreen
Liked the show–don’t grok the dissing on the guest. Who cares how she looks or her mannerisms–that’s just shallow. It was good to hear some give and take instead of an echo chamber.

One other thing I don’t quite grok is the screw cap “reduction” thing. How many wines come with the plastic or foil wrapper around the top nowadays? I’m not in any way informed on the issue, but my hunch would be that this drastically limits the the wine’s ability to breathe.

Synthetic corks, on the other hand…the worst of both worlds, IMO.
April 8, 2009

Leif
Question: first episode with a cut … it was such a nice discussion!
April 8, 2009

Leif
i only drank one dao (monteiros is the winemaker/wineyard)?!). a cuvee of tinto roriz(tempranillo) and to autochtone grapes called touriga nacional and alfracheiro for 7,70 euro and you are right its worth more than double the prize… elegant fruity nice tannins and acic – balanced and komplex good integrated oak … could be interesting in some more years (was a 2003)!

and i really like ya guest shows(only if the guests are little bit into wine/not like these collegeboys/but iam a european, iam not into this type of humor) great wishes supPORT PORTugal leif
April 8, 2009

Ryan Mac
Gar,

I agree to the tenth degree about wine snobs and there declaring so that the entire winery can hear them that a wine they just tasted is corked. They throw around the classic terms of funky, musty, tired, etc. My wife and I will just shake our heads because we just tasted the same wine from the same bottle and could not disagree with them more. We just don’t know how to counter their sour, pompous attitude. Any suggestions? BTW, great show, best one in a while…
April 8, 2009

Steve
So you asked her to give a “360 second” description of herself, and then, less than four seconds later, you interrupted her. That’s why I can’t watch your shows with the guests. I guess I’ll just have to assume that you are OK with screwcaps. For the past month or so, I haven’t even been clicking on the shows with guests, but this time I tried because of the screwcap topic, but it’s just gonna have to be “solo Gary V for me.”
April 8, 2009

Lb in KS
This has got to be the alltime wine~nerdiest ep EVER!… which ain’t neccesarily a bad thing.
April 8, 2009

Steve E
Great episode – I like the impromptu discussion on corks.

If it’s between cork and screwtops, I’m usually happy to open a screwtop. But if I had my choice, I’d go for glass found in the Vino Seal by Alcoa. One of our local wineries – NW Totem Cellars turned me on to them and I like the fact that they’ve got with the recyclable glass version.

QOTD: I had to google it and found the marula. It looks like there are many uses for the bark of the tree too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marula

How about we cut out the Portuguese wine talk for a while – I finally found a shop that carries quite a bit. I want to keep the prices down!
April 8, 2009

Jeff R
Gary -
Now this I found to be a sensational episode. While the “wine chick” may not have been as charasmatic as other guests, I loved her knowledge of the wine industry. Your interaction and dialogue with her was great. The discussion of cork vs screw top was also great – wine geeky but great.

I really enjoyed this one. Made up for a few so-so episodes in the past few weeks.

Good job.

I never sensed your were “that high” on Portugal wines based on past episodes. Soory, I’ll have to pay better attention.
April 8, 2009

Michael Schoonmaker
Amazing show with a great guest! Forget pairing wines and food, we’ve found the perfect critic pairing!

QOTD: No idea, and I’m not going to be a “bozo” and look it up. However, please tell us the answer next episode!

By the way, I’m really pro screw-top. I think until we have some genuine empirical data it’s going to be impossible to qualify benefits and deficits with any accuracy. We can, however, start the arduous process of breaking down the irrational stigmas people have against a fine wine with a screw-top. Irrational.
April 8, 2009

Micha
@DrEdwardo I agree 100%. The influence of cork is there and undeniable. The worst influence of cork is the “hidden contermination”. Meens you don’t get a clear cork taint, but the wine is somehow outoff range. There a many serious winemakers (even in Germany) who tested cork vs screwcap on a longer term. Some back to 5 Years an longer. The Results clearly speak for screwcap/Stainlesscap.

@gary: Thanks for another nice Episode. In case of the Petalos 2007 i totally disagree. I just tasted it a few days ago at the german winefair “Prowein”. One of the best wines in this pricerange tasted so far. No poopiness at all, enourmous balance, fruit, depth and structure. Just amazing for such a young wine. I thinks you nailed it with the 2006
(EP #608) but in #654 ??

Greetz from Germany
Micha
April 8, 2009

Alessandro
Corked Statistics MIND BLOWING!!!! 3% to 7%

I don’t know how reliable this information is but i found this on google:

A ‘Corked’ wine is a wine that has been bottled with a cork that is contaminated with TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole). TCA contamination usually comes from corks but can also come from barrels, other cooperage or even, apparently, from wood within the cellar including walls or beams. The term ‘corked wine’ is applied to all wines with TCA contamination because corks are the souce of most of the problems. The wine industry estimates that as many as 3% to 7% of all wines have TCA contamination at levels that can be detected by consumers. Because most people are not trained to recognize the smell and taste of TCA, only a very small fraction of these bad bottles are ever returned to stores or sent back at a restaurant.
April 8, 2009

Abi Barrett
Screwcaps are fun!!!
April 8, 2009

John B.
Really interesting show – thought the chemistry with Liza was phenomenal. It was like watching twins What made it so interesting was that Liza was able to bring in some contrasting opinions in a pleasant and engaging way. Could really imagine her as a co-host – way to go!!!
April 8, 2009

Dan
One of the best guests ever. I really enjoyed the conversation.

QOTD: coffee beans?
April 8, 2009

Eli
I didn’t like the guest. Annoying. I agree with DrEdwardo about corked wines.
April 8, 2009

god knows
nice show and interesting guest.

it´s curious, there is possibly no other product in the world than wine, where 1 or 2% failure rate is more or less accepted. In my opinion cork is an antiquated closure. I once opened a bottle of a famous spanish gran reserva in the 50,- € range and it was clearly undrinkable because of the cork taint. It was a spoiled evening too.
Many wineries in germany or austria are using by now screw caps or glas closure, especially for white wines, to improve customer satisfaction. Some of these winemakers allege that around 30% of their wines in some way had been adversely affected by cork. Sometimes its only a lack of fruit or a certain dullness but by all means different to the wines they bottled.

ok, cork is a natural product with some favorable characteristics but its also a limited resource and we should use it only for high quality wines that want to age. All the other wines, maybe 95% of all need an up-to-date closure (like screw cap) to satisfy the demands of winemakers, merchants and customers.

btw I like portugiese wines too

greets from the ruhrgebiet
April 8, 2009

TommyB
I may be wrong here Gary but this woman seem a little nervous? Maybe she was intimidated by the Wine Library “action”!! Well she seems quite nice but a Journalist? A bit too “figetee” for my liking!
April 8, 2009

BrianAF
PS Was the show edited? There seems to be a skip. Did you pause the tape to tell her to stop disagreeing with you? Like, hey cut the wine snobbery out or your outta here! lol.
April 8, 2009

BrianAF
Liked the episode Gary. Its fun to see your down to earth sensible approach to wine. I think Liza was a good guest. It was funny to see it dawn on her that the number of corked bottles proposed by the industry is due to wine snobbery, rather than actual corked bottles. Im not sure she conceeded the point right away, but the obvious absurdity of 1 out of 100 is apparent. Keep up the good work.
April 8, 2009

Rizzo Tees
Wait, wait, hold on a second. Was that lady talkin’ trash about bacon?
April 8, 2009

Derek F
Great show you guys, loved the debate about screw tops vs cork. I agree with both of you, I love the romance in Cork but if I am going to drink the wine within 5 years I prefer screw tops…also like the quickness of screw tops.

QOTD: watermelons?????? LOL
April 8, 2009

Lawrence Leichtman
Did a google lookup and it is Marula fruit.
April 8, 2009

Lawrence Leichtman
I have no clue what elephants eat that can be made into a liquour unless it is bananas. I don’t mind screw caps for short term drinking wines but if I am holding a wine more than 3 years it is cork. I have done the experiment for me and screw caps allow for no evolution of the wine so not for something alive. I have had corked wines and my experience is about 1/500 bottles based on my own tasting records. I have had people who have said Brett affected wines were corked but I keep a sample of corked wine to let them smell TCA and then they understand the difference. I am tolerant of light Brett but if it is heavy the wine is just not to my taste. She was an excellent guest and one that I hope you have back.