The Trouble With Screwcaps!
As a rule we don’t like to make fun of people here a FERMENTATION…unless they deserve it.
So in that spirit, the name attached to this email I was forewarded will be left out. That said, a winery forwarded me an email they got from a customer who has a very important inquiry. The message is short and to the point:
"I would like to ask how you recommend opening the bottles that have a very heavy foil that I had to pull off with the pliers and no cork. They have a plastic bottle cap liner. The corkscrew does not work because the foil is too heavy. Thank you."
I have not received the response the winery sent back to this pour reader who clearly has never seen a screwcap bottle before. Perhaps we ought to take the high road here and note that the wine industry might want to do more education with regard to how drinkers should treat the growing number of screwcap closed bottles that are appearing on the shelves.
Maybe I am just a bit cynical, but I suspect this email was generated from a cork purist who wanted to put a little dig into the wine maker.
I had customers at my old store come in with stories of jabbing corkscrews through screwcaps. It took awhile for some of them to admit it, but the above story I’m afraid to say has been repeated many times by various people.
I had this happen in a restaurant. Ordered a bottle that had a screw-cap, the waiter struggled manfully to get that corkscrew in there. he actually moved away from the table so we wouldn’t have to witness his epic confrontation. After about five minutes, he realized what the deal was and sheepishly unscrewed the cap. The least restaurant managers could do is inform the staff about which wines don’t need the corkscrew.
I might be able to forgive a consumer who had never worked with a screw cap before and was used to cork. But someone serving wine? Hmmmmmmm?