In article >, Mark Lipton > wrote:
>Bruce Sinclair wrote:
>
>> To paraphrase my earlier post, all (or most) reactions that occur in bottles
>> are considered 'bad'. That's why many/most winemakers are now putting the
>> vast bulk of their production into screw top bottles. The 'bad' reactions
>> are reduced, and the wine tastes like they want it to. IME, this is a very
>> good thing.
>
>Not at all. Many reactions that take place in the bottle are desirable.
> To use the most obvious one, the cross-linking of tannins (by at least
>two different pathways) leads to the reduction of astringent flavors in
>red wine and a more palatable beverage for most people. The deleterious
>reactions mostly involve the unwanted ingress of oxygen, though an
>ongoing debate concerns whether some amount of oxygen ingress is a
>positive for the wine. To the extent that they control oxygen ingress
>more effectively, screwcaps are a positive development in the sealing of
>wine bottles.

>Mark Lipton
>(a wine loving Ph. D. chemist)



Yep ... but ... can the wine maker not allow the aging process in their
large containers to continue past what they would have before screw tops, so
that the wine they bottle is the wine they want you to have ?

My understanding is that they now do age past what they would have, and
because they know there will be very limited changes once bottled, can leave
it till they think it's ready.

I do note however, that the wine they still bottle under corks is
predominantly reds.