Winebits 139: Corks, Yellow Tail, wine critics

• Use corks, save the world: The Wine Curmudgeon, who prefers screwcaps, is nothing if not fair. So I offer this, from an environmental coalition: Increased screwcap use is threatening the 4 1/2 million acres of forest in Portugal, Spain, North Africa and Italy where cork trees grow. The groups claim that if cork use continues to decline, the forests won't be maintained, endangered species will die, and three-quarters of the cork forests could be lost. And, in other cork news, some 15,000 people have signed a Facebook page supporting natural corks. And I thought working at home, not driving much, and recycling was all I had to save the planet.

• It's the taste of the wine, stupid: Yellow Tail's John Casella told Bill Daley of the Chicago Tribune that yes, the animal on the wine's label helps it sell, but what consumers really like is what Yellow Tail tastes like. "If the quality of the product does not meet or exceed consumers' expectations, they will not come back, and that's not a long-term winning proposition," says Casella. This is a fact that is lost on many in the wine business, who mock Yellow Tail because people drink it instead of trying to understand why it is the biggest selling Australian import in the U.S.

• Spectator, critic split: How insular and parochial is the wine world? James Suckling, who has been scoring wines for the Wine Spectator for more than 30 years, left the magazine last week. The note in Decanter, which is otherwise sensible and level-headed? "The departure of the respected wine critic, who joined the US magazine in 1981, was announced yesterday, setting bulletin boards and blogs buzzing with rumour and speculation." And affecting how many people? A couple of thousand? Maybe 10,000? More Yellow Tail is probably sold in a month than the number of people who know who Suckling is.

corks, screwcaps, wine closures, Yellow Tail, wine writing, wine criticism

Comments

[La Qinta]

I have been drinking yellow tail for many years. This year they changed their corks size and I can no longer get the cork back in the bottle after I open it. I will not buy another bottle because it is obvious they don't care about their clients.