Eat Beat

Wine controversy

A case for screwtops

A media fuss about the wines served at the recent White House state dinner for China's President Xi Jinping has prompted a loud defense of "screwtop" wines. The scribbling started when a Washington Examiner column chided US President Barack Obama for "failing" to support high-end US wines and - the horror! - serving Xi an array of wines that included a $30 bottle of Penner-Ash Viognier from Oregon that was under a screwtop. Wine lovers immediately piled on the suggestion that $30 bottle of wine couldn't be good. Kathleen Inman, owner and winemaker for Inman Family Wines in Sonoma, Calif, says such critics were "simply ignorant", adding: "In the world of educated wine people and those who just know the facts about screwtops, they would agree that screwtops are the best closure for wine." The venerable cork has Old World panache, but many winemakers are embracing the metal screwtop as more ecologically friendly and more likely to preserve the wine long-term than corks, which can deteriorate in storage.