Battle of the Bottles: Stop Screwing – or Corking – Around?

Cork screws, screw cap, screw you? All the same mishmosh if you were to ask me before I did some research.

Sadly, the beloved wooded corks are producing the 2,4,6-Trichloranisole (TCA) infection—and I thought Anthrax was bad! The infectivity occurs during the cork sterilization process. In turn, the cork industry has been very slow to respond to winemakers' demands for quality. On a tighter note (pun intended!), screw caps, or what is known as Stelvin-type closures is the new pink for the wine industry.

So what's the deal here? Why not do away with those annoying corks and order some simple caps for the remainder of our culinary civilization? Frankly, there are still several issues with the thought of cork extinction. Many argue over the main and most obvious issue—aging.

In basic terms, the cork serves as the wine's lungs for the many months or years it is preserved for. Still, screw caps seem to be doing the job overseas with Switzerland already using more than 15 million annually. In the United States, screw cap usage may even reach ten million this year.

In a recent article by Daily Sips over this "screwy" debate, the author states, "There is also the indisputable romance of removing a cork from a bottle of wine." And in a sense, he could not be more correct. It's like saying you can't turn the pages of a magazine anymore because everything's on a screen these days. But hey, upgrading is the in and tradition is the out these days.

Furthermore, the enhancement of flavor does not exactly require a cork; rather corking is indeed its own verb! Technically, corking is when the wine is overly oxidized due to the previously mentioned substance, TCA. So an actual tree born physical cork is not the most important ingredient here to preserve that luscious wine of yours.

After all, we now live in a world full of lazy people where clicking a button is now preferred over taking a stroll in the park. So come on people, what do you think will eventually prevail—a cork where a tedious wine opener requiring some actual energy is necessary, or the more appealing opportunity to use a simple screw cap with a millisecond twist of the wrist action. You do the math, and I'll do the pouring.

— Written by Joanna Weinstein

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