Free the Wines!

Welcome to Anticork, a new blog from a frustrated wine lover. Why am I frustrated? I’m tired of opening bad bottles of otherwise good wine, bottles that would have been sources of great pleasure were it not for the presence of a remnant of tradition which too many wine lovers believe they cannot drink without: the cork.

My frustration is both personal and professional. I make this distinction because I work in the U.S. wine industry, and a good portion of my job is to present the wines of my company (a blue chip Napa Valley winery) to visitors from both the public and the trade. There is nothing more deflating, at least to me, than to uncork a pricey bottle during a tasting, sniff a sample and graciously excuse myself to fetch another only to return to questions of why the first bottle was not poured. I answer them with a smile, of course, but such an event tarnishes the brand, especially to those who know little about wine and can quite easily switch to the Cabernet made by the winery across the street.

I’m tired of the embarrassment. I’m tired of seeing aspiring wine lovers disappointed and confused by a simple packaging issue. I’m tired of wineries, restaurants and wine shops see their revenues and reputations jeopardized by so small a thing, the cork.

Now, I certainly have opened plenty of stellar bottles closed with a cork, but the rates of cork failure are still too high. I also realize that switching from corks to screwcaps requires a good amount of marketing finesse on the part of the winery, so this is not a change that a winery can bring about overnight.

But change they should, and change they must. Hence, Anticork. My primary intent in establishing this blog is to bring together cutting-edge developments in the cork-screwcap debate. I will also review screwcapped wines — and only screwcapped wines — profile winemakers using and promoting screwcaps and highlight other innovations in the industry.

I leave you with a recent New York Times profile of one of my wine industry heroes, a lover of screwcaps, and the one in whose spirit I will administer this blog.