Company is gone. Good food & treats gone. Guess what, lol, Cutty is gone but....
- Thread starter DDD
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H
HaoZi
Guest
I want the name of that wine, too!
Marguerite
Active Member
Make bolognese. Slurp it in by the glassful, then drink what is left when you eat dinner.
Marg
Marg
DDD
Well-Known Member
I'm sharing the info but please remember I do not "know" wine. You expert guys may think YUK, lol, but here goes. It's Shannon Ridge 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Ca. I think I paid around $15, can't recall if it was on sale.
Being unsophisticated and not terribly well coordinated I limited my choices to screw top bottles. I had visions of husband uncorking red wine all over the newly cleaned room. There will be no mess or waste. If I don't slug it all down my gullet......I can add it to some recipes. Yeah, wine! DDD
Being unsophisticated and not terribly well coordinated I limited my choices to screw top bottles. I had visions of husband uncorking red wine all over the newly cleaned room. There will be no mess or waste. If I don't slug it all down my gullet......I can add it to some recipes. Yeah, wine! DDD
H
HaoZi
Guest
I don't know wine, either, I just enjoy sweet wines, hate dry ones. Lucky for me, this means Boone Farms's Snowcreek Berry is something I like, lol.
Marguerite
Active Member
More wine these days is bottled with screw-tops.
We had dinner with a friend a few years ago, he was upset that the wine his companion had bought had screw-tops. For him, it meant it was inferior. But of course it wasn't. We couldn't make him understand, unfortunately, because he spoke no English and his companion was the only translator - he didn't believe she was really translating what we said!
Marg
We had dinner with a friend a few years ago, he was upset that the wine his companion had bought had screw-tops. For him, it meant it was inferior. But of course it wasn't. We couldn't make him understand, unfortunately, because he spoke no English and his companion was the only translator - he didn't believe she was really translating what we said!
Marg
LittleDudesMom
Well-Known Member
Just a note - there is much debate over "cork" vs. "screw top" in the wine industry today. Some sophisticates believe a screw top cheapens the wine - while others believe the ease of use (can't carry a corkscrew on a plane) supports screw on tops. Cork is a sustainable resource, but it also can contribute to wine spoilage.... You are seeing better wines using the screw on top that most of us associate with Mad Dog 20/20!!!! Some European countries actually outlaw the use of screw on tops for wine! Useless information learned over time from bonehead (a self proclaimed stuffy wine person and a close friend who is a big wine drinker).
Sharon
Marg's Man
Member
Gday Sharon,
I have been following the cork Vs screw top debate for some years now. Like Marg I drink what I like but what I like seems to agree with what most of the experts agree is good.
I have REAL experts at work. These blokes are wine connoiseurs of the first order who ALSO are oenologists (academics who study the technology and chemistry of wine). They are saying that cork suitable for corking wine [my emphasis] is not a sustainable resource because the trees that produce the cork are being harvested faster than than they can re-grow a suitable grade of cork. I first read about this becoming a problem over 30 years ago in the Time Life culinary series on wine, then it was discussed as a future problem but it now a real problem. Many of the best vineyards in Australia are now bottling wine in screw capped bottles because the good bottling cork is an expensive import here. We don't grow our own cork bark trees in Australia.
The seal is polyethylene foam. Chemically this plastic is almost identical to candle wax and is known to not contaminate wine. Spoilage with this sort of cap occurs when the aluminium screw portion is dented and spoils the seal, allowing air to get in and spoil the wine. Buying tip: Don't buy wine in bottles with dented caps. If you dent them yourself, drink them as soon as possible after you notice it.
As you say, cork can contribute to spoilage because the bark can harbour fungal spores that grow in the otherwise airtight bottle. Some of the most disgusting smelling (and tasting) smells come from anaerobic growth of microorganisms. It's no wonder the wine becomes 'corked' and undrinkable. This does not happen with a good seal.
Marg's Man
I have been following the cork Vs screw top debate for some years now. Like Marg I drink what I like but what I like seems to agree with what most of the experts agree is good.
I have REAL experts at work. These blokes are wine connoiseurs of the first order who ALSO are oenologists (academics who study the technology and chemistry of wine). They are saying that cork suitable for corking wine [my emphasis] is not a sustainable resource because the trees that produce the cork are being harvested faster than than they can re-grow a suitable grade of cork. I first read about this becoming a problem over 30 years ago in the Time Life culinary series on wine, then it was discussed as a future problem but it now a real problem. Many of the best vineyards in Australia are now bottling wine in screw capped bottles because the good bottling cork is an expensive import here. We don't grow our own cork bark trees in Australia.
The seal is polyethylene foam. Chemically this plastic is almost identical to candle wax and is known to not contaminate wine. Spoilage with this sort of cap occurs when the aluminium screw portion is dented and spoils the seal, allowing air to get in and spoil the wine. Buying tip: Don't buy wine in bottles with dented caps. If you dent them yourself, drink them as soon as possible after you notice it.
As you say, cork can contribute to spoilage because the bark can harbour fungal spores that grow in the otherwise airtight bottle. Some of the most disgusting smelling (and tasting) smells come from anaerobic growth of microorganisms. It's no wonder the wine becomes 'corked' and undrinkable. This does not happen with a good seal.
Marg's Man
klmno
Active Member
Boone's Farm...Mad Dog...you ladies are stirring up some memories in me....LOL!!!
As far as the cork vs screw-top- I agree to get what you like and are comfortable with. I used to have a lot of trouble getting a cork out without making a mess or the cork breaking up- or both. But then I got a good cork-screw and realized that the key is to screw it in all the way and make sure it's fairly straight. I never had a problem out of that. I don't think wine spews or "blows"- as far as I know the only drink that does that is champagne. But to each his/her own!! I can't drink wine much at all anymore- it seems to either make me nauseus or give me a headache for some reason.
As far as the cork vs screw-top- I agree to get what you like and are comfortable with. I used to have a lot of trouble getting a cork out without making a mess or the cork breaking up- or both. But then I got a good cork-screw and realized that the key is to screw it in all the way and make sure it's fairly straight. I never had a problem out of that. I don't think wine spews or "blows"- as far as I know the only drink that does that is champagne. But to each his/her own!! I can't drink wine much at all anymore- it seems to either make me nauseus or give me a headache for some reason.
trinityroyal
Well-Known Member
A lot of the "good" Canadian wines are using synthetic corks. Avoids the el-cheapo associations that many have with the screw-top, while also avoiding issues with spoilage and availability of corks. I also find the synthetic corks easier to remove AND to shove back in the bottle to re-seal it. I have a few of those re-sealing doo-dads lying around, but can never find them when I need them.
DDD, what matters is whether you enjoy what you're drinking, not what other people think of it. My favourites are blush wines, which until recently were considered terribly unfashionable among my wine afficionado friends. So I carried on drinking blush while they sneered. All of a sudden, my favourites are getting write-ups in the wine magazines as the next big thing, and everyone else is drinking it too. When it passes out of fashion again, I'll still be drinking it...
Find what you like, and don't worry about the critics (either professionals OR friends).
DDD, what matters is whether you enjoy what you're drinking, not what other people think of it. My favourites are blush wines, which until recently were considered terribly unfashionable among my wine afficionado friends. So I carried on drinking blush while they sneered. All of a sudden, my favourites are getting write-ups in the wine magazines as the next big thing, and everyone else is drinking it too. When it passes out of fashion again, I'll still be drinking it...
Find what you like, and don't worry about the critics (either professionals OR friends).
Marg's Man
Member
Good on you. There's two reasons to be drinking wine. To get drunk or to enjoy it. The first is a bad reason the second is good one
In either case the type of closure matters not. It's the stuff in the bottle and its effects on you that matter as long as it is drinkable.
I do stick with what I like. My old buddy Cutty! on the other hand wine doesn't make me sick etc. so I can drink it when necessary. Fortunately for me it is rarely necessary, lol. DDD
