So will first growth Margaux soon be using screwcaps?

In short, no.

I have just written up Tuesday’s presentation and tasting on the results from research carried out by Bordeaux first growth Chateau Margaux. This was presented by Paul Pontallier, and he displayed an incredibly open and thoughtful attitude in sharing details of the in-house experiments that have been going on there for a decade.

The [...]

Closures: Diam's guarantee, and new from Nomacorc

Haven’t mentioned the juicy subject of wine bottle closures around here for a while.

I’m seeing more and more Diams – the technical cork that’s made from fragments of cork cleaned from any contamination by supercritical carbon dioxide. In a new move, I’ve encountered my first Diam (in a Bordeaux white) that guarantees on the cork [...]

Making a pledge for cork

I had a meeting this morning at Clarence House, the home of the Prince of Wales, so afterwards I wandered down to take a peek at the ‘Start’ Garden Party to Make a Difference, which is being held over the next few days here (see the website for more details).

The idea of Start is to [...]

Crown cap liners for beer

A question. Why is it that the beer industry is happy to use crown caps with PVC liners for bottled beers?

These PVC liners allow a high level of oxygen transmission. This reduces the shelf-life of the beer, and also means that the same beer is experienced differently by consumers depending on when it is drunk.

Beer [...]

Spotted in a Trimbach: a new-look Diam

Opened a Trimbach Riesling this afternoon to find it had a new-look Diam (taint-free technical cork) in the neck. This Diam has been streaked with brown to make it look more like a natural cork. Will this aid consumer acceptance, or is it actually unecessary?

Wine closures in the The Wall Street Journal

Coincidentally, the day after I returned from Planet Zebulon, where I’d been visiting Nomacorc’s headquarters, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature on the way synthetic corks and screwcaps have taken market share away from natural cork, focusing strongly on Nomacorc. You can read it here.

The article is pretty comprehensive, and contains an interesting graphic [...]

Greetings from Planet Zebulon!

Nomacorc is based in the wonderfully named town of Zebulon, which sounds like something from a Flash Gordon movie. I spent the day here yesterday, visiting Nomacorc’s headquarters. I have just a few minutes to blog, so I won’t go into any great detail, other to say that it’s a big operation, with 10 extrusion [...]

Closures for fine wines

Just finished my next Gros Lees column for The World of Fine Wine. It’s on the subject of wine bottle closures, but this time I’m focusing solely on fine wine.

I won’t steal the thunder from the piece, but I will just mention one of the points I make, which is that the perspective you have [...]