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Corks are not a wine lover's friend. They're hard to open and can taint the contents of any bottle. Serious oenophiles claim that five percent of all bottles are corked, a condition that can make your expensive red, white or bubbly taste like stale cardboard. Winemakers have increasingly used synthetic corks or twist-off screwcaps, two solutions that trade romance for practicality. Now Domaine Chandon uses crown caps -- the very same gadgets that cover most beer bottles -- to seal its Étoile line of sparkling wines. No more pop. No more cork. No more fun?
In fairness, crown caps make sense. Winemakers have used them for more than 50 years. They allow you to store your wine upright, not sideways, because you don't need to keep the cork wet (which is essential so air does not enter the bottle).
Sure, it's a little anticlimactic to bust out your NFL bottle opener on that special occasion, but connoisseurs appreciate that it's what's inside that counts. And Étoile, a Sonoma-based company, is a delicious, relatively affordable bubbly available in brut (dry) and rosé varieties. Both are aged for a minimum of five years. Both have tiny bubbles. The brut is crisp and evokes honey, apple, butterscotch, even hazelnut, with a fairly creamy finish. It's a blend of 75 percent chardonnay and 25 percent pinot noir. The rosé, of course, is pink and made of 63 percent pinot, 31 percent chard and six percent pinot meunier. It tastes more of berries and ginger. Consider having the brut pre-dinner or with fish; the rosé with super-rich foods like lobster, foie gras and even dessert. And if anyone teases you about bringing a bottle with a crown cap, ask them if they've ever heard of parent company Moet Chandon. That should shut them up -- assuming the bubbly hasn't.
-- James Oliver Cury
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