What's that in your bung hole?

The other night I pulled the cork on a bottle of wine and paused to admire the perfect, dark purple stain on the bottom of the cork. There’s a certain thrill I get when I see a cork like that—stained by years of contact with rich, red wine. It makes me think I'm about taste some really good stuff.

Nowadays, however, you never know what you’ll find plugging up a bottle of wine. While many producers are still using traditional corks, many more are using composite corks (corks made from cork crumbs pressed together), plastic corks of varying types or Stelvin enclosures (the modern screw cap).

I’m a huge fan of the old-school corks, of course. There is nothing like the sound, feel and look of a real cork. There is something truly visceral about it.

But there are real problems lurking within that lovely cork. By some estimates, wineries lose as much as ten percent of their production to cork taint or other cork-related issues. Anyone who has ever poured a glass of wine only to discover that it smells like wet cardboard understands one of the downfalls of cork.

Another problem with cork is availability. Cork trees grow slowly and as demand for cork goes up, the supply remains relatively stable. Can you say higher prices?

While in Germany recently, my parents were interested to learn that even die-hard German winemakers admitted that good quality cork was hard to find and very expensive.

Which brings us to the “other” options. Plastic corks are being constantly changed and updated. I’ve had quite a few nice wines lately with plastic corks, several Spanish wines in particular. Plastic corks have plenty of critics, though. I’ve heard many complaints ranging from “hard to pull” to “the damn thing leaked all over the floor of my car.” Not good.

The Stelvin enclosure, which is the most widely-used screw cap design, seems to be poised to be the best cork alternative. Winemakers across the globe are getting down with the screw. From New Zealand to Cali to snooty-ass France, screw caps are popping (no pun intended) up everywhere. Bonny Doon Vineyards is doing all of their wines in screw caps, and even more and more high-dollar producers like Plumpjack and Verget are screwing their wines shut.

Every day I notice more wines with screw caps. White wines are the most common, but reds are following suit. Not too long ago I twisted open a bottle of Marquis Philips Sarah’s Blend 2004, which was absolutely scrumptious.

Of course, purists vow to never accept what they see as heresy. But to anyone who thinks they can avoid the oncoming wave of screw cap wines, I say “this ain’t your daddy’s MD 20/20.” I have seen the future, and it is screwy.