A customer remark about Mercy really caught my attention .... "a true wine bar that has screw top bottle caps is pretty degrading."
I am so sorry some people can be offended by it. It is an evolution that is occurring. Some of the reasoning behind using screw off bottle caps :
1: A decline in cork production could devastate cork forests, which house trees hundreds of years old and contain rare ecosystems that would disappear should cork production cease.
2. Wineries in Australia and New Zealand gravitate towards metal caps because importing cork is expensive.
3. The screw top has been praised because it does not carry the risk of cork taint. Cork taint occurs when a cork is contaminated by mold and spoils the wine it seals.
4. Modern packaging technology has introduced screw tops that can be calibrated to effectively seal wine. Cork is not essential to bottling wine, it's actually a remnant of the traditional winemaking process.
I am sad to see more bottles with the screw top enclosure .I always love opening a bottle of wine at the table the traditional way because it has a bit of charm and some showmanship.
I thank all wineries that actually use both enclosures: one for restaurant use and another one for retail purposes.
Cheers.
Vincent Havard
General Manager and Operating Partner
