FWIW- a few wineries have begun bottling better stuff in screwtop bottles, testing the market, the last year or two, on the theory it’ll age better without the problem of cork deterioration, etc., as discussed above.
Can’t remember specifics off the top of my head, and can’t seem to find links, but IIRC one was selling the same wine in both corked and screwed bottles; the screwtop cost some 15% more!
It’s not that unusual to open an expensive bottle of wine and find the cork to be rotted and the wine spoiled. It’s happened to me a few times. I’ve also heard that the trees that produce cork are becoming scarcer - anyone know if that’s true? I think there is a historic aesthetic there (like using laces on shoes). The plastic/rubber corks don’t bother me as much as the screw caps do. I was given a $125 corkscrew with a bone handle as a gift once and I have to admit I’d be bummed if I couldn’t use it anymore.
see, the problem is that we are discussing wine snobs here. Everyone realizes that all wine tastes like pig piss. This puts wine snobs into the same category as Star Trek fans and Datsun afficionados.
You see, when the subject of your adoration sucks so horribly, the surrounding fans must silently avoid the issue and are left only with the picayune for discussion. Thus “Picard or Kirk?”, “510 or Z Car?”, and “synthetic or natural cork?”
You’ll note that the truly preferred alcohol delivery systems (gin and tequila) all come with twist tops.
I leave you now to the minutae of your strange hobbies. Oh, by the way, I’ll take a synthetic cork over Captain Kirk any day.
obfusciatrist
You are drinking cheap tequila if it comes with a twist top.
I cannot think of any gin with a cork so I will let you slide on that one.
As for Kirk I think he uses a synthetic top now a days.
I’d go with the 510 except I used to own one. Granted, it was a wagon (live rear axle, not IRS) with the poorest excuse for an automatic (Borg-Warner) ever PLUS a tendency to stall for no good reason. But no Z Car after the 280Z; they just got too fat. I like my cars to be lighter than me.
So why do I drive a Taurus? Oh yeah, it’s reliable and I fit into it.
No argument from me. Even crappy wine has gotten drinkable and mediocre wine is rather good these days.
Really obfus, I have seen lots of tequila (and a few vodkas) with a plastic topped cork. That is, the top looks like a giant thumbtack, with the head made of plastic and the pin made of cork.
And don’t go ripping on Datsuns! 
Point 1: I am not a wine snob. I will drink a good Pino Grigio one day, and drink Mad Dog the next. One I drink to enjoy the flavor, one I drink to get wasted. I see no reason to be snobby about it. <G>
Point 2: Any wine snob worth their salt should already own one or more vacuum pumps with corresponding synthetic rubber vacuum corks. See http://www.vinetowine.com/voxcart/wine_pump_and_sealer.asp. Buying one of these things was the best $15 I ever spent on anything even vaguely wine related. If you drink wine and you don’t have one of these, get a good quality one ASAP. Then, whenever you open a fresh bottle, pop one of these babies in there. Excellent. With these things, one need not care whether the bottle is originally sealed with a cork or cap.
Point 3: I am a total car snob. The Nissan 300ZX is (remainder deleted because it would get this post moved to IMO)
-Ben
Too ugly to appear on the same road as a 240Z?
Now, the Datsun 2000 was a CAR!
…and remember to ask the wine steward for the cap when he opens your Thunderbird. We don’t want him to think we are uncivilized, now do we?
Oh well, that’s what I get for speaking of things I know little. I’ve never actually had my own bottle of tequila, I’ve only ever ordered it at bars. Had no idea what kind of top they had, assumed they would be twist top like gin (of which I have puchased more than my share of bottles).
I’m scared of gin. Gin makes me mean. Bourbon’s good, though. No corks there, at least.
Not long ago, I read an article saying that one of the better wineries in California was putting out some of its best wine with twist caps. It said that others were thinking of doing the same. It stated that California wines were now highly thought of and that if it catches on that it could become widely accepted.
This discussion reminds me of the scene from the Muppet Movie where Steve Martin is serving wine to Kermit and Miss Piggie:
Steve (sneering) “Would you like to *smell * the bottle-cap?”
The wine drinking experience loses a bit of its luster this way, dontcha think?
Oh, and on Tequila, your average Cuervo type tequila has screwtops, expensive stuff get’s a cork.
I also like corks because I can do a kind of impressive little trick with them. The only other trick I can do is breaking an apple in half with my hands. So - get rid of corks and I’m down to one trick.
Are you show us this trick or are we just just going to have to use our febrile imaginations?
Ew, I just realized some of you perverts may have had other visuals in mind. This is the trick: I hold a cork in each hand, in the gap (web) between the thumb and index finger. I exchange the corks to the other hand, using the tips of the index fingers and thumbs, without letting go (of the fingertips). Guess you’ll have to come to Albuquerque to see this… I can’t describe it very well. It’s worth about ten minutes of attention at a party.
[Edited by JillGat on 04-01-2001 at 01:14 PM]
It’s a cork based date then! I’m not free 'til next month, but I’ll be right over. I’ll even bring a couple of bottles if it’ll help.
…and also without the cork/finger loops ending up linked together. It’s a lot more impressive when you see it done. I don’t often have corks to practice with, but I can sometimes pull it off with marker caps (it’s harder, 'cause they’re shorter).
Steal my thunder why don’t you, Chronos.
Corks seem to be near the ideal optimum for the high speed, right in your face, prevention of the linked loops syndrome. Potential audiences can pop up most anywhere, causing the need to improvise. Peanuts, of the in the shell ballpark variety, make a most acceptable alternative. At other times, a carrot stick snapped to somewhere around that magical 2 to 2½ inch length, will prove to be quite suitable. Chapsticks or traditional shaped lipsticks work nicely. As long as one remembers the needed incantation that disturbs the integration of at least one of the items held in the crotch of the thumb and forefinger at a speed near twice as fast as the blink of an eye, then re - integrates while under pressure from the thumb and finger, why then, the impossible remains routine.