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Do you prefer those new plastic/rubbery stoppers in the top of wine bottle, or do you prefer traditional cork? Do you think the wine tastes different, or do you like not having to worry about whether it's corked?

I think corks are ridiculous. What's the appeal of something that stops you getting to your wine?

Actually, I prefer corks that are the correct size for the bottle, rather than ones that are so big you can't fit them in. It's just common sense.

I never used to like fake corks or screw caps but, because so many tight bastards were using cheap corks (cut from too low down on the tree) and causing my wine to be ruined, I am now a convert to screw caps. You never get 'corked' wine with a screw cap.

Getting a cork out of a wine bottle is half the fun though.

1) The difficulty and obscure nature of the method increases how "special" it feels when you finally drink it.
2) The pop marks the onset of intoxication. I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.
3) Cork is quite a comical material in many ways. The word itself is rather amusing.

Jon O'Neill wrote:Getting a cork out of a wine bottle is half the fun though.

1) The difficulty and obscure nature of the method increases how "special" it feels when you finally drink it.
2) The pop marks the onset of intoxication. I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.

I do tend to agree with points 1 and 2, but I only agree with 1 if I have spent more than a tenner on the bottle. If it's a cheapy '3 for £10' type then the risks of cork taint are too high. Generally, they are not going to spoil a GOOD (expensive) bottle of wine with a cheap cork (although it has been known on occasion).

Jon O'Neill wrote:I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.

Didn't your mum get jealous?

Karen Pearson wrote:

Jon O'Neill wrote:Getting a cork out of a wine bottle is half the fun though.

1) The difficulty and obscure nature of the method increases how "special" it feels when you finally drink it.
2) The pop marks the onset of intoxication. I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.

I do tend to agree with points 1 and 2, but I only agree with 1 if I have spent more than a tenner on the bottle. If it's a cheapy '3 for £10' type then the risks of cork taint are too high. Generally, they are not going to spoil a GOOD (expensive) bottle of wine with a cheap cork (although it has been known on occasion).

Would you be able to tell if a sub-£10 bottle of wine was corked anyway? I wouldn't. I don't even know what that tastes like. In fact, I've never spent more than £10 on a bottle of wine apart from in restaurants, where I get the same bottle I would in Tesco but at double the price. I've never spent more than £20 on wine in a restaurant.

Jon Corby wrote:

Jon O'Neill wrote:I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.

Didn't your mum get jealous?

Jon Corby wrote:

Jon O'Neill wrote:I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.

Didn't your mum get jealous?

That's absolutely brilliant.


In other news, does anyone look down on waiters/resses when they ask you to taste a screw-top wine at a restaurant?

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:

Jon O'Neill wrote:I'm a big fan of satisfying pops.

Didn't your mum get jealous?

That's absolutely brilliant.

In other news, does anyone look down on waiters/resses when they ask you to taste a screw-top wine at a restaurant?

I fucking hate that whole charade where they come up, show you the label, make a big show of opening the bottle, putting one hand behind their back, pouring a little bit out, letting you drink it and mumble something, then fill up your glasses slowly, ruining any conversation you were having and treating it like the Blood of Christ. Honestly, I would prefer it ten times more if they just walked past naked and shat the bottle out onto the table.

But now I think about it, it is ridiculous.

Like everyone else here, I know full well that you're not even supposed to taste the wine, you're only supposed to smell it, but I still feel impelled to sip the fucker.
Anyone here brave enough to risk looking like a dick by just smelling it rather than looking like a dick by tasting it? Dicks all round really.

Matt Morrison wrote:Like everyone else here, I know full well that you're not even supposed to taste the wine, you're only supposed to smell it, but I still feel impelled to sip the fucker.
Anyone here brave enough to risk looking like a dick by just smelling it rather than looking like a dick by tasting it? Dicks all round really.

It's all just a big fucking pretence, and I hate it. This shit doesn't happen in Nando's.

Ha yeah, we were having a meal out as part of a stag do once, and one of my mates did the whole 'testing the wine' thing. Cue a big discussion about it (mainly taking the piss out of him) and he eventually tries to finish it by saying something like "oh well fuck you all then, I'm very sorry for trying to make sure you all don't get served corked wine, I won't bother in future". Followed by somebody gleefully pointing to the thread on the top of the bottle. Heh heh heh.

I'd add a link to Alan Partridge downing his glass of Blue Nun but I can't be arsed to go and find it, so I'm sure you can all just think of it instead. I might invent a term for this, whereby instead of linking you to a YouTube video or something, I direct you to something in your head.

Jon Corby wrote:Ha yeah, we were having a meal out as part of a stag do once, and one of my mates did the whole 'testing the wine' thing. Cue a big discussion about it (mainly taking the piss out of him) and he eventually tries to finish it by saying something like "oh well fuck you all then, I'm very sorry for trying to make sure you all don't get served corked wine, I won't bother in future". Followed by somebody gleefully pointing to the thread on the top of the bottle. Heh heh heh.

Jon O'Neill wrote: Would you be able to tell if a sub-£10 bottle of wine was corked anyway? I wouldn't. I don't even know what that tastes like.

You'd know! Trust me. It smells like a damp, musty cellar and is liable to give you gut rot.

Jon O'Neill wrote:

Haha, I can't see (most) pictures at work and only just remembered to check that out. I like it, although I thought it was well established that I'm a chav, not a toff?

I genuinely just read this topic and thought, wouldn't it be hilarious if I made a silly parody topic called "cake forks"?

Then I realised it was already there, and was there first.

So yeah, that's all I came in to say, really. I'll get my coat.

Graeme Cole wrote:I genuinely just read this topic and thought, wouldn't it be hilarious if I made a silly parody topic called "cake forks"?

Then I realised it was already there, and was there first.

So yeah, that's all I came in to say, really. I'll get my coat.

Yeah, you couldn't come up with Kork's face though could you!

Usually the only wine I drink's champagne. Solves the whole problem. On the odd occasion I have wine out with a meal I'm quite happy to send the sommelier off once they've opened the bottle. They're guaranteed to hear from me if there's a problem so they really don't need to hang around.

I'm from Dublin, but I like to say I'm from Cork, because I live here. I guess that makes me fake Cork.

Fake corks definitely preferable, since they don't break into pieces when you're trying to get them out.

Having said that, now that they put even quite decent wines into screw cap bottles, I much prefer these. Obviously easier to open, but also to reseal.

I only tend to have one glass with my evening meal, and I find that they can be still drinkable 3 (sometimes 4) days after opening. I often have a red and a white open to go with different meals.

I have tried vacuum seal stoppers, but they're rather a faff and didn't seem to make the wine drinkable for any longer than a screw cap. Wine boxes are an obvious alternative, but there's only a limited range of these, as well as being rather naff IMHO.

I see Boris has his place in the photo of the Bullingham (?) Club - the rich nutters who went round smashing up restaurants for fun.
As for the cork, I now prefer the convenience of the screw top, but having a friend who is from Portugal I understand the danger to the cork industry that so many people's livelihoods depend on. The bark from the trees etc.....

Wine is a bit minging really.

Wine will soon be sold in papier mache bottles!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... NTCMP=SRCH

Supposed to be eco-friendly, but with a plastic inner lining, I don't see it frankly. Going back a few decades to returning glass bottles for reuse would surely be better. When I was on holiday in Germany a few years ago, they even had thick plastic bottles for fizzy drinks, which you returned empty to the supermarket for reuse.