Long live the screwcap "Richard Neidich" wrote ........... Then again, there are many in this group who say that 95% of the worlds wine is very VERY ordinary stuff, and who realise that there are distinct clbuttes of winemaker. Yes, there is the factory operation where the wine style is determined by the marketers and the laboratory is the most important part of the process - turning out wine with mbutt appeal - generating corporate profits. Then again, there is the artisan - unique people who make wine with a pbuttion for turning a raw material into their expression or their artform - some is excellent - some is rubbish - much of it "in-between" but all of it interesting to those of us involved "in the search" By far the largest volumes of wine are made in far flung corners of (mostly) Europe by families scratching out a living in plots dating back centuries - "vin ordinaire" for the ordinary people. I don't think that any in this forum have the expectation that this is "outstanding stuff" Whoa - this is a bit emotive from you privates! ;-) Again, I do not believe that the village operation in France or Italy is concerned with "art" - they just make wine, the way their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers did. Certainly the Corporates are concerned with the almighty $$$ (that is the American way - like making hamburgers with no meat or vegetables) I believe that many of the people who correspond within this forum truly appreciate those winemakers in the artisan mould - those smaller operations whose wine reflects their regional "terrior" - and the difficulties each vintage presents - and the ideas which the winemaker wishes to express. And (getting back on to topic) this is the reason many NZ winemakers are choosing alternate closures to cork. Winemaking has enough challenges - imagine persevering through difficult growing conditions; harvesting at that moment of perfect balance between under-ripeness and over-ripeness; working 24-7 turning this raw material into your expression of perfection, only to risk spoilage from the closure, which is only there to keep the contents in the bottle. In my experience, the closure is the afterthought in the winemaking process - I simply do not accept that winemakers deliberately make their wine giving consideration that the wine will be influenced (negatively or positively) by the cork. That is like saying that a chef will choose the very best of produce and ingredients; will slave in the kitchen preparing his-her signature dish, and put it on a plate, knowing that at some time prior to the customer eating the meal, the plate will have some sort of effect on the meal, unintended by the chef, That is rubbish - the plate is merely an inert instrument - necessary for presentation, but in itself, not part of the meal. To me, that is the role of the closure: necessary to contain the contents of the bottle, but not to influence the wine in any way. I myself don't care if my bottle is sealed with a piece of rocking-horse poo - so long as it has no effect on the wine. -- st.helier 
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