Is cork going , or are we getting screwed, as in bottle toppers?

The big debate continues as pundits argue the cork versus plastic versus screw cap issue.
For centuries corks have been the efficient method of capping our wine bottles. The cork provides the elegance when opening a bottle, the manner in which the cork is removed via corkscrew provides a flare, an opening act if you will, with the best yet to come. For me it adds the anticipation and excitement that you just don't get with a screw cap. A cork denotes something different, not just another cola, but a special drink, an upscale moment, even if its a cheap wine, the cork makes it special.

It makes a difference, not just another generic drink, but one with atmosphere and panache.
I get the concern of tainted wine due to cork taint, I mean I have opened a wine bottle that you just knew wasn't quite right, the smell, even the acrid taste all due to the fungus created by TCA, the chemical that causes the bad reaction in the wine, but really isn't that like buying a fine automobile and hopping you get one with little to no bugs? Everything we make today has some imperfections that change or corrupt the product. We can complain about it, moan about the pros and cons, but in the end we go about fixing the problem. Is plastic the fix we want?

The plastic corks used in today's wine bottles do work, but are they the perfect fix. Do they allow the wine to age as corkage does? Are they better at preserving the taste of the wine?
Do they have the same aesthetic feel as cork? Do they provide the complete experience we want in our wine? Are we sure we want to use a product that may require some ecological fix in the future, similar to that of plastic water bottles, and soda containers? The answers to these questions today may be personal choices, but are these choices viable long term solutions?

We cannot discuss the debate without considering what plastic or any other alternative will do to the existing industry of farming cork. The majority of cork comes from Portugal and other Mediterranean spots. The tree farmers who expertly remove the the cork in layers every 9-11 years per tree, rely on this industry as their primary source of income. Will we be disabling an industry, especially since this issue of tainting may only affect 1-6% of the wines bottled by corks? I'm all for maintaining any industry that uses old world techniques that may be lost forever simply for the sake of change or to reach out for perfection in an imperfect industry such as wine bottling. We have seen way too many old world techniques lost due to modernization. When was the last time you actually knew someone who could gold leaf by hand, or could finish an elaborately carved piece of furniture by hand crafted methods of old? What about your local shoe cobbler? Yeah he has been gone a while. Why do we look down on these age old methods that work in exchange for mass produced replicas of the same?

Alright lets talk about screw caps now. I do believe that screw caps have their place, water bottles, soda pop, and milk bottles even are great with screw caps. They are easy to open, maintain the product well for the time period that they are needed in. Wine, if it is to be used soon, or stored in screw capped bottles for easy access, seems perfectly fine to me, but for the long-term I have concerns that screw caps cannot provide the same characteristics and long term capping needs as cork. Screw caps to me are similar to wine boxes, they may be fine as carriers of wine for short term needs, but lack the fine attributes you get from a corked bottle of wine that has aged for the last five to ten years.

What do you think? Tell me your opinions, old world craft versus new world modernization which is better? Which is preferred?

Til Later,

D.S. David