Sonoma Cutrer chardonnay is one of our favorites. They make several different types. The other day in a restaurant we ordered a half-bottle that came with a screw cap. The label seemed legit and it certainly tasted like what we were used to, but we were startled, as we'd never seen this winery with a screw cap bottle.

More and more wineries are using the screw tops for the obvious reasons. My best guess in 10 years (or less) the majority of domestic wines will be packaged in screw top bottles.

MisterNice

That is one of my favorite wines! And while I must say that I appreciate the elegance of a cork, I will definitely appreciate the ease of a screw cap.

It could have been a restaurant-only bottling, or just on the half bottles..So far I've still seen all my company's inventory come in with corks. Did you happen to catch the vintage?

Please be more specific. What exactly did you drink?

Sonoma Coast?

Russian River Ranches?

One of the others?

Russian River 2007

Hundreds of quality wines have switched to screwcaps as it is simply better for the wine. This now includes wines selling for over USD 100 per bottle. One winery even charges a premium for screwcap over cork (yes, it is a higher price if you want the same wine in a screwcap -- admittedly they use a very fancy screw cap, but it is a USD 15 extra for this bottling). But this is not new; in NZ 90% of wine is bottled using screwcaps. Even in the US it has been around for over a decade -- the most famous is Plumpjack bottling 10,000 cases in 1997 including their Reserve Cab which cost USD 160 when released ... in a screwcap. After 10 years of aging the verdict is in (aged better in screwcap than in cork).

Peter Gago, Penfolds is quoted as saying:
“Screwcaps scare me, they are not a problem for white wines but for Grange they are not a solution. I’m worried about the interface of metal and wine over time, “

here:

http://www.wine-spirit.com/articles/...categoryid=275

Screw caped wine for short term consumption at airports and inflight, why not. For long agers... not there yet.

How odd! I will have to ask someone at the winery about this.

Previously their only wine that did not use cork was a limited production of Founder's Reserve.

Fron the what it's worth department...

One poster rated this 89 points on www.cellartracker.com

dh

You hardly need to ask someone at the winery -- they've put out a press release about this in April 2008! Lots of their wine is now in screwcaps. For details see http://www.reuters.com/article/press...008+BW20080417


"Sonoma-Cutrer Brand Director John Hudson says great care has been taken to assure that in the end, nothing much about Sonoma-Cutrer will be different. The package featuring the screwcap looks much the same as the cork-finish, and only a close-up and careful examination of the
bottle would even note the difference. Hudson says sophisticated Sonoma-Cutrer wine drinkers are likely to applaud the change.

"Russian River Ranches is truly the winemaker's choice each year, a blend of the unique vineyards that make up our home in Sonoma's Russian River Valley," said Hudson. "Every glass is something special, and a screwcap helps keep it that way."

Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Ranches is found exclusively in restaurants. The winery's offerings also include the Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, available at retail, and limited release vineyard designates Les Pierres, The Cutrer and special releases Founder's Reserve and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir."

Restaurant-only bottling. Guess I was right.

bought a couple cases of kay bros amery v. hillside shiraz 2003. has screw top caps. serious wine for a screw cap.

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