BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Wine Corks

<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> So much enthusiasm. You really DO read every fifth word I write ...

First of all, regarding all these "independent" international contests ... you know what I will say on this, so there is no need to do that ... :rolleyes: If you ever happen to come to France, Spain or Italy, don't shout to much about American wine being the best, else your visa will be revoked. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Many quotes, some interesting, mostly irrelevant. A $13 French wine can't be good nor reliable. This is not the price of the real French wine.

Find me a quote saying something like "In year ****, which had the best fruit, wine has been spoiled be corks in all of France!"

You have found several quotes saying, "Ah, this bootle is spoiled ...", so what? There are thousands of other bottles which are perfectly OK. There is no tragedy.

By the way, the control quality only increases, so does the production quality. The corks will only become better, not worse.

Those saying that ALL corks, for all wines have the same failure rate are amateurs.

I'm not insisting on anything, you can go on and drink your plastic cork wine made in America, and ignore all the bad wine imported from real wineries. America needs centuries to learn some things, including the wine making industry. This is absurd for me and everyone I know. Can't believe you're serious ...

If you say

"You have found several quotes saying, "Ah, this bootle is spoiled ...", so what? There are thousands of other bottles which are perfectly OK. There is no tragedy."

Then that is the core of our difference. You think it's fine to spend money on a bottle of wine and have that wine be trash. I think it is NOT find to spend money on a bottle of wine and have it be trash. I would not accept that in any other product I buy, be it a car, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a new dress. If I take the time to choose something, pay cash for it, bring it home, store it properly for a few months, choose the right glass and pour it out to enjoy, I want it to be drinkable. Regardless of WHAT wine it is. End of story.

As far as percentage of people in the world who realize corkage is a problem, every single magazine I subscribe to (and I subscribe to many, many of them international) feels this is a serious problem. And their readers who write in all agree there *is* a problem, and only disagree about ways to address the problem. No reader has ever said "It's OK if some percentage of wines are destroyed".

If you and your friends don't feel corkage is a problem, that is your perogative. But across the world, you are in a minority.

We're not in minority, since the things are the way they were all the time before this topic and nothing is going to change, at least any time soon.

There is a difference - wine is not made by plan, you can not plan something like that. Bred is massive, dress - you can return it, cars - they can be fixed and be as new, wine - nothing ... you discover it when you drink it.

I still insist that good wines don't have this problem in the degree you describe. And bad wines ... well, just don't drink them. If once a year, a bottle is spoiled ... not a big deal ... that may upset you, but it is not the reason to get so preoccupied.

If you ever happen to come to France, Spain or Italy, don't shout to much about American wine being the best, else your visa will be revoked.

Well, not really. When I lived in Belgium, Germany, and Italy a common statement I heard at wine producers around Europe was, "American wine is much better than I thought."

Most Europeans also don't spend a great deal on the wine they drink every day. I have friends is various countries with extensive cellars. They don't feel a need to open wines that cost over $10 ever day. They find wines that they many different wines that they can drink, enjoy and don't worry about the price.