The East Wing’s serving of a highly rated Oregon Viognier delivered in a screw top bottle is being heralded by industry enthusiasts as a huge and welcome endorsement of the capping system that is replacing the centuries old cork.
“The truth is that many expensive and highly rated wines are finished with screw caps these days,” said Paul Gregutt, contributing editor of the industry-leading Wine Enthusiast magazine.
He should know. It was Gregutt who gave the Penner-Ash white served to Chinese President Xi Jinping a coveted 92-point rating.
It was also Gregutt who was first to criticize Secrets when we suggested that serving a wine from a screw top bottle was less than presidential, no matter what the rating. The night of the State Dinner last month, we wrote, “The East Wing’s steady decline in promoting high-end American wines at presidential State Dinners has come to this Friday night: President Obama is serving a $30 screw top wine.”
Gregutt and several others dismissed the criticism.
“Your note about the screw capped wine served at the State Dinner caught my eye. I am the reviewer who gave the Penner-Ash Viognier the 92 point rating. It is a very fine wine, quite deserving of the score, and in no way does the closure indicate that it is somehow a ‘step down,’ as you rather snidely assert,” he wrote. “I would suggest that you educate yourself a bit about wine closures, because you are clearly way out of your element here,” he added.
Most weren’t as diplomatic. “You’re an idiot,” wrote a California wine buyer.
Alexandra Calla, a consultant with the Washington area Prestige Beverage Group also set us straight. “I’ve been in the business for 11 years and have witnessed a major acceptance of cork alternatives. This is NOT looked down upon. Your article is now circulating social media and many wine growers, distributors and importers are appalled by you thinking that a screw cap is not okay. Well it is.”
Many noted that the technological advancements in “Stelvin” cap make it a better choice than cork, which can sometimes influence the wine’s flavor and aroma.
“It is a choice increasingly more and more winemakers all over the world are making to preserve both the freshness of their wines and reduce bottle variability in a vintage,” emailed Julia Greco, the wine director of the exclusive Straub’s Fine Grocers in St. Louis.
Not all the reaction was negative, however, and some were just happy to see the State Dinner wines mentioned. One emailer even asked how he could get the East Wing to consider his wine.
“How can we get out wines considered for a State dinner at the White House?” said Doug Paul of Three Sisters Vineyards in Dahlonega, Ga.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
