I don’t see it as an incomplete package. Two off the top of my head that don’t use capsules are Bedrock and Enfield.
Naked is good.
Waxing as well,
I prefer a branded cork with no capsule.
I don’t mind the wax for one reason-- I love watching my restaurant server struggle to get it open. I once had a server who was remarkably snobby, but struggled bigtime in getting the bottle open. She ended up cutting around it with a corkscrew. A good show.
I would venture a guess the majority of serious wine drinkers could care less. The other 99% of wine drinkers I have no idea. But I would also venture a guess most of them prefer a capsule still, simply as traditionally that is what they’ve seen all their lives and are used to. Is that changing, probably as I am seeing very slightly more bottles without a capsule on market shelves.
I know either rats or mice – can’t remember which or if it’s both – will gnaw through wire, so I don’t know that that’s the reason for capsules.
So that is what the “X” is for. Insert corkscrew here. Very helpful. Another mystery is solved. ![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
I can’t believe how mainstreem I am in this poll.
Foil capsules are fine.
No capsule is better.
Wax is not so good. I can’t believe that giant white glob that Bedrock put on their Oakville Farmhouse Heritage.
To those of you who buy highly expensive wines at auctions (I don’t, myself), do you value the foil as additional evidence against the wine being faked, and/or as another piece of evidence for inspecting the condition of the bottle?
It’s an abstract question, since there’s no way First Growths and Dujac and so forth are going to stop using foils, but anyway . . .
Anything but wax, for the love of all things unholy!
I don’t like capsules at all. We opened a bottle of Cabot Pinot (really enjoyed it) the other night and I liked seeing the x on the cork. I should go down and pull the capsules off my remaining Cabots. And your labels are still this map geek’s favorites.
Great questions John. For Campesino we just decided to not foil our rose and white blend and leave foils on our reds. Though we may move towards not having any foils in the future.
As a consumer I really don’t care what is used.
Please, just never ever do this…
I like long capsules,
I like short capsules,
I like wax,
I like the wax button on the top of the cork,
I like beeswax,
I like no capsules,
I like glass stoppers,
I like screwcaps.
Essentially, I like how each winery elects to brand their wine. While I enjoy some branding and label art and styles more than others, the capsule, or absence of a capsule, has never been a big thing in the aesthetics and, to me I have no concern as to long term storage of wines sans capsule.
For example, seeing a purple Pott capsule, and the way it stands out in a rack, is kind of neat. I also like seeing when a winery has its name pressed into the top of a capsule. I like the short capsules used by Ridge that allow you to see the imprint of the year on the cork.
And as for wax, some do the wax better than others. For some, the wax is brittle and breaks into small pieces. Others use a better wax that can more easily be removed.
So to the original question posed by John, I am indifferent if a winery elects to go capsule-less.
I will say that occasionally when I bring out a Bedrock wine (which almost always is naked on top), the normal non-winegeek gentlefolk do ask what happened to the “metal foil thingy.”
Honestly, I don’t really care. Although with a gun to my head, I’d pick naked – no foil, no wax.
JC, years ago I did a little experiment around this topic. Each bottle I opened that had a capsule, I simply ripped it off and forced it against another ripped capsule, to see how large and heavy the damn thing would become. At a point, I had to stop as the capsules wouldn’t crimp anymore to each other, yet the large mass I have made was the size of a big ass softball, heavy as hell and proved how much waste they create. For me, there’s no purpose for them and like with Copain and Wind Gap, who gave up them, I dig the decision and applaud it. save the cost, the waste and go naked, man.
I like a clean look with a nice branded cork. Sexy.
I dislike capsules but the cork does need to be branded for easier identification in the cellar.
I love wax. If applied in the right places. And then ripped off.
Oh wait, that is a different topic.
Maybe it’s my perception but I feel like a capsule can protect the lip of the bottle from minor glass chipping which could occur from random contacts, such as an inadvertent bang on a shelf or table.
I do. Actually, I’m OK with having a few wineries ship wine sans capsules, but wouldn’t like it if many or most made this decision. Imagine a wall of wine bottles all looking the same. Even branded corks are much less distinctive than the array of different capsules. A custom-branded capsule can be a thing of beauty, plus the utility of quickly identifying the winery at a glance. Beauty is good, even in such a small way as this.
Also, as Chris mentioned, a branded capsule is a small extra protection in the secondary market. Finally, and this is a very small thing, I often tear the capsule into strips that I crimp around the stem of a glass, to mark which wine is in which glass.