Hey Everyone! I have certainly been remiss in blogging about any wine for the last few weeks. These have been interesting times – mostly bad, some good. I was looking for a white wine that I could just drink without too much effort – one with a screw cap was a good start as little fuss there. Don’t judge. Some white wines and “younger” reds do well with a screw cap as it does not allow any oxygen into the wine and those wines don’t need to “settle”. Bolder red wines, on the other hand, do well with corks because the corks allow some oxygen into the wines which helps with smoothing out the tannins. More winemakers these days, than in the past, are using screw caps for their wine bottles as it is more a more convenient way to open and close for their consumers. It is also a way for wine producers to remove the potential of cork taint from production. Cork taint may affect up to 2% of wines every year and can ruin batches of wine or ruin consumer’s views of a particular wine if not caught before shipping to market. Cork taint is caused by a chemical, Trichloroanisole, that can be introduced into your bottle of wine somewhere in the production effort and usually through the cork. Wines with cork taint may smell like moldy newspaper or wet dog.
Back to the wine…I opened the 2018 Martin Ray Chardonnay…with a screw cap. It had hints of apple and pear and was a medium oak Chardonnay and did well on a hot June day, so a definite recommendation. You can find this wine in some grocery stores and at Total Wines for around $18 per bottle.
