[VaSteve]

A local guy, who's a prolific writer and drinks a lot of wine talked about wine on our local board. Interesting what the cork actually does:

I was thinking about the whole box/screw top/cork thing.

Wine is alive.

Much like a woman, wine has a specific "age" during which it is enjoyable. Too young, and it will be too much like grapejuice . . . not mature enough, not sophisticated or layered, and way too giggly. Too old, and it begins to go flat and chalky. Yuuucchchhh.

The primary aging factor for wine is air. Air is the necessary component to allow the wine to continue matureing. Wine is designed to be enjoyed during a certain timeframe. Some wine is made for immediate drinking. Other wine is made for drinking 10,20,30 or even 40 or more years later. In order to survive longer, more "food" must be included in the wine. The "food" doesn't taste very good, which is why an excellent wine can be pretty bad if you drink it too young.

The cork is a mechanism by which the wine gets air very slowly, which is perfect for wines that are meant to age for a number of years. A cork is totally unnecesary for wines that you want to drink now . . . they are already at the right age so they don't need more air to mature . . . but you better drink it soon because it can't breathe.

So, that's why you can get good wines with screwtops, plastic corks and in boxes. It was made to be enjoyed now, so provided that you drink it now, you will be fine.

Since wine ages with air, a great tip to make young, cheaper wines taste far better is to decant them . . . expose them to a lot of air and let them breathe for as long as possible. The same also works for more mature wines, but you really need to be careful because if the wine is on the very mature side, the extra air can kill it. I tried a 1918 bordeaux that was ok when first opened, but after 15-20 minutes the air killed it the rest of the way off . . . bleechhh.