The history of sealing a bottle of wine with a tin or foil capsule goes back a long time in history. From what I’ve read it was used to protect from servants uncorking bottles in the cellar, drinking them and replacing the wine with something else, cheaper perhaps. Another reason was to protect from rats or mice from chewing into the corks(mice hate chewing on foil or tin). Seeing how niether of these are much of a problem these days, I keep asking myself why we are wasting resources, time and money on these otherwise, seemingly useless capsules. I sent out my berserkerday wines sans capsule in hopes no one would be upset by their ommision. I personally like to see the corks to observe if there is or has been extreme leakage. I also like the look of the finish on the top of the bottles, so I’m planning on leaving my bottles “naked” if you will, going forward. I’m curious to see what the board thinks of this and why they feel the need to continue to favor foil finished bottles if that is the case.
I prefer no capsules, no wax, no nothing.
Need some way of identifying the LGK from the regular Auslese! 
Mice are still around and a problem. Every year in fall I’ve got a family that likes to sneak in before the cold winter months. You sometimes notice chewing on a nice auslese capsule, so I’m not sure how a capsule necessarily ‘protects’ the cork.
Well done, sir!
Capsules look a bit nicer, but I prefer bottles without, since it’s a tiny step to being greener.
I still don’t trust our servants, John. For me, capsule is fine, naked is fine, wax dot is fine (although I like to be able to identify the winery from the top of the bottle.
Hope you get the consensus you are looking for on this board
No capsules!
I do not have strong feelings either way. But, the capsules do help me identify wines quickly when I am looking in a rack.
Bah!
That’s what stars are for!
I only like capsules that have some identifying mark on the top, so when lying in the cellar I can look and sort out what it is quickly. Otherwise I don’t really care.
That said, if I had my choice only a small enough capsule to just cover the very top of the bottle with said identifier on the top would be preferred. As I prefer to also be able to see the cork while still inserted in to the bottle.
Example of top of capsule. When lying down in my cellar I know exactly what it is without having to pull it out and look at the label. Makes finding bottles SO much easier.
+1
And we’re seeing more and more producers going this way. I find Copain’s package particularly attractive.
I’m mostly indifferent, though I’m fine if wineries do away with them.
I really don’t care for wax, though. Just a hassle and one that seems pointless.
Don’t forget the cork weevil. And before the 1990s, capsules were often made of lead. It was wise to wipe the lip of the bottle with a moist cloth to help remove traces of lead before uncorking and pouring.
As to foil capsules nowadays, I’m agnostic. But please, no wax.
Regarding the identification we have our X logo on the top of the cork. Also let’s you know exactly where to stick the corkscrew for those of you who might be slightly impaired while opening a bottle…
+2
No capsule necessary. I can easily identify yours sans capsule by the “X” on the top of the cork.
John, I ask myself the same thing. I far prefer a branded cork with no capsule.
So…no one sees the absence of a foil being an incomplete package? This is the only argument I’ve heard.
I’m for the no capsule option…in fact I switched entirely to branded corks (branded with Ladd) and no capsules starting with the 2012 vintage.
The mining of Tin (for tin capsules) is not an environmentally happy thing to do…so that, and it’s lack of function made this an easy decision. There are plastic capsules, but they’re ugly. I’ve thought about offering to hand wax the bottles, for those folks that have mice/etc issue in their cellar…but that would be a request only option, since very few folks like/want it.
Several years ago, I was at a dinner with several wine geeks. The waiter offered to open the bottles. One of them (the one I bought) had the wax capsule. After opening all the other bottles, the waiter picked up the waxed bottle, looked at it for a minute, put it down and said “I’ll be right back, I have to do something”. He never did open the bottle…lol.