I like screw cap wine. I admit that freely even though some people consider screw caps a sin.
Don’t get me wrong. I like yanking out a cork — the whole ceremony of it. But I like the humble utility of a screw cap and how easy it is to, well, screw it off. Screw caps, to the best of my knowledge, don’t go bad. Corks do all the time. And some wines, ones you don’t intend to age, do not need a cork.
Sauvignon blanc doesn’t need a cork. Any wine I drink young doesn’t need a cork. Right now, I’m looking at a 2009 Carmenere from Chile that I’m going to drink tonight. Grant and I are having burgers and this will be perfect, no need to age it. It has a screw cap. Good for it.
By the way, I bought it at Vintage Berkeley on College Avenue, my favorite wine shop on Earth. I can’t speak to wine shops in Santa Rosa because I don’t shop there. (Feel free to recommend some.) I also like Kermit Lynch in Berkeley, it’s always so interesting to go there and it’s where I learned to love Bandol rouge. And Kermit and his pals write a monthly newsletter which verges on being literature.
Rickraff
Scheid Pinot Noir is a nice screw cap wine.
I like Uncorked wine shop in Saratoga…
July 15th, 2012 6:37 pm
ollie hoop
I like the wine shops in Italy where you take in your own bottle and they fill it from a big cask.
July 15th, 2012 7:11 pm
Steve
Beltramo’s in Menlo Park, K & L in San Francisco and Redwood City, Wine Stop in Burlingame are all excellent stores that stock hard to find wines at all price levels.
July 15th, 2012 8:53 pm
Dr nick
Bottle Barn, Santa Rosa. Best place I have shopped at, hands down.
July 16th, 2012 7:07 am
Dennis
What’s wrong with screw cap wine? It doesn’t matter to me. I only buy what I am going to drink over the next three or four months. I am a wine drinker, as opposed to a collector.
July 16th, 2012 7:49 am
Streetglide
Blah…screw caps are for the pee-cee crowd. And Carmenere is a poor choice for a burger, a wimpy little wine no doubt born in a stainless steel tub in a rat-infested South American slum.
.
In general, any wine with burgers is a dud. Next time, try Boont Ale (Trader Joe’s). It’s an off-the-charts brew from Anderson Valley. If you must drink wine with a burger — jeez my mind boggles at what people do in the privacy of their homes — try that big Zin from Costco I recommended, Campus Oaks 2008 Lodi Zin; they use corks.
July 16th, 2012 8:17 am
Kathy
Hmmm, this is one case I think a hyphen in your headline would be helpful (screw-cap wine, I like it). I keep reading this as “Screw cap wine!”
July 16th, 2012 10:07 am
CohnZohn
Kathy, I’m still giggling over your comment. You made my day. Of course, you’re right. I should have inserted a hyphen. Actually, I still could. But the visual joke you pointed out is just too funny, so I’ll leave it the way it is and glance at it when I need a smile.
July 16th, 2012 10:13 am
Stan
I heard on the radio Lowell,Larry Kruger claim that any Bill Walsh statue in front of the new Stadium should have a John McVay statue alongside as he was “equal to Bill Walsh in building those great teams”
What do you say to that put out as fact on 50,000 watts,Lowell?
July 16th, 2012 11:20 am
CohnZohn
John McVay was very important to the 49ers success. Bill talked to him, got advice from him, but it was Bill’s show. John would say that.
July 16th, 2012 11:51 am
Stan
That’s what I thought. It would be like always including a statue of George Martin alongside the Beatles…
July 16th, 2012 11:58 am
lameduck
I’m going to agree with Dr. Nick as a place to purchase wine in Santa Rosa and I’ll agree with Kathy as I read the headline the same way.
Most of the time we end up buying from wineries during big sales – 50% off or more. That’s a double bonus for us to get out and taste wine plus get a discount.
Admittedly, Mrs. Duck drinks more wine that I and is involved in wine clubs and the general wine scene. I’m more of a fringe drinker or designated driver in these situations. I’ve learned to enjoy a good wine, yet I still do not like to be drunk and especially do not like to be drunk around strangers – or around drunk strangers. Growing up in the city I saw and was involved in too many avoidable situations.
What I like most about screw cap wines is that it’s easy to close up the wine. Also, if you keep the wine in the fridge it fits easier. The cork sticks up. How many wines over the years have you lost due to a bad cork or a cork that’s badly sealed? It drives me nuts and then having a glass of wine with little bits of cork in it…I’ve gone to the trouble of straining the wine to filter out old sediment and cork, but geez…
All said, I’ll have a Coor’s Light and stay sober…Let me know if you need a driver
.
July 16th, 2012 12:23 pm
Joe Sanchez
I’ll second Streetglide’s recommendation – Boont Amber Ale is delicious, even though I do like wine with burgers.
I liked Berkeley Bowl’s wine selection, small, but very solid, and very affordable, which was great for when I was a student.
July 16th, 2012 1:21 pm
Jim Bancroft
I had the same impression Kathy did regarding the title. Lowell, you never fail to amuse and educate here.
As for McVay/Walsh and who should get a statue and where, I’m sure McVay would give the lion’s share of credit to Walsh too.
This brings to mind something regarding credit and who should get it. Weimar president Paul von Hindenberg was asked whether he or Erich Ludendorff (his right-hand man in WWI) won the battles of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes. His reply was, “I don’t know who won them, but if things had gone badly, I would have been the one who lost them.”
Same goes for Walsh here. If the 49ers had continued the Joe Thomas era, would anyone have blamed John McVay?
July 16th, 2012 1:27 pm
Kathy
Lowell, glad you’re leaving it as is, it is cracking me up too.
Could be material for the next edition of Eats, Shoots and Leaves.
July 16th, 2012 3:58 pm
Tyler
Lowell,
I took in a wine appreciation class in college (UC Davis).
They explained that screw caps were better for a variety of reasons and cheaper as well.
The only reason more wine makers had not switched to screw caps was the public perception and marketability of screw caps.
She explained that, in an attempt to change the perception of screw caps, several companies had tried releasing screw caps on only their high end wines. The lower end wines kept the cork.
Maybe the perception is starting to change.
July 16th, 2012 10:01 pm
Danny S.
LC…..LOVE your column everyday! Do you and the Mrs. prefer white or red ? I always find some terrific red wine finds in the $12 and under area at he Costco in Livermore. We pass through many an area wih Costco’s but fnd their selection far more palatable than others.
July 16th, 2012 10:15 pm
CohnZohn
Danny S, I am mostly a red wine drinker but I let my membership at Costco lapse.
July 16th, 2012 10:16 pm