Twisted

There is an ongoing debate over wine bottle closers...I'm talking about 'cork' versus 'screw top' otherwise known as Stelvin. I remember the first time I was served a bottle of wine at a restaurant where the waiter simply showed me the label and proceeded to twist the cap and then pour. Not so romantic I thought, but the wine tasted just fine! Then came the time I opened a bottle of wine and to my surprise, the stopper appeared to be of 'alien' construct, it looked like plastic or rubber...even less romantic. The debate continues over which stopper is the best suited for the fine wines we adore. A case can be made for all three as to why they might be the best stopper for any given wine and the burning question of which one is the best one for the environment. Natural cork wine stoppers have been harvested for hundreds of years and, you might be surprised to learn, support an age-old practice that keeps the world’s relatively small population of cork oak trees alive.These scattered pockets of cork oaks, mostly in Portugal and Spain, thrive in the hot, arid conditions of the southern Mediterranean, sheltering a wide array of biodiversity and helping to protect the soil from drying out. Plastic and Stelvin alternatives have been coming on strong in recent years the main reason for use being to avoid cork mold that can taint wine. There is no question that the alternative stoppers can prevent a wine from being 'corked', but when you weigh the effects of manufacturing each of these stoppers, cork is the one that most benefits the environment. Ahh...but now you say, what of the hassle of getting the cork out of the bottle!?!
Not a day goes by that I don't employ the use of a corkscrew. There is a basket in our kitchen which holds all kinds of wine related items, plastic and fine carved wood bottle stoppers, aerators galore (and yes, they do work), and corkscrews of course! I even keep one handy in the side pocket of my car door...I never want to be caught without one in reach. Corkscrew design, it seems, may have been derived from the 'gun worm’ which was used to remove unspent charges from musket gun barrels back in the 1600's. I personally would be wary of pulling out 'unspent charges' from the barrel of a musket or any gun for that matter! The first ever patent for a corkscrew was granted in 1795 to the Reverend Samuel Henshall, in England. Henshall fashioned a simple disk between the worm and the shank. The disk prevented the worm from going too deep into the cork. Since then there have been a vast array of designs and although they all perform the same one-dimensional function of removing the cork from the bottle, the choices are staggering! The 'wing' corkscrew, is sometimes dubbed the angel and has two levers on either side...we have all see that one. The 'Sommelier knife is also know as the waiter’s friend and usually folds or closes into itself like a jack-knife. The 'twin prong' puller is probably one of the lesser used but when mastered can extract a stopper without damaging it and can re-insert the cork as well. I believe we even have a battery-operated corkscrew, which removes the cork by simply holding down on a button (not as romantic a notion though). I do have great affinity for corkscrews, no matter what shape, size or configuration; after all, one of the happiest sounds is the subtle 'pop' of the cork as you pull it out of the bottle!

Here are a few pairings of wine and corkscrews...go figure!

Screwpull and Cross Barn (Paul Hobbs) 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon ($35.00)

Sommelier knife and Flowers Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2008 ($36.00)

Wing corkscrew and Mauritson Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2009 ($25.00)

Twin prong and Melville Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills estate 2009 ($29.00)

Cheers!