Wine purists wax poetic about the romance of the cork, but using corks to seal wine bottles is actually a relatively new invention. Even so, when the screwcap (or stelvin) closure became popular several decades ago, traditionalists had a hard time accepting it. The screwcap reminded many of low-grade wine consumed by drunks in convenience store parking lots.
Mark examines a variety of non-cork closures, and then goes on to discuss alternatives to the glass wine bottle—specifically, the increasing use of the bag-in-box format, and the emerging vogue of both tetra pak and wine in cans. On Bizarre Beverage News, he examines a trio of stories: the revelation that King Solomon gave his workers plonk to drink, new research that indicates wine is beneficial to the immune system, and the disturbing collapse of the Australian wine industry.
LINKS:
Binny’s Beverage Depot—Link to: http://www.binnys.com
Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History—Link to:
http://www.iconicspirits.net