(pictured: Bill Eggert’s brother Chuck is a friendly face you might see behind the tasting bar!)
It sounds like the title of a teenage mystery novel but Bill Eggert at Fairview Cellars is wondering about what I think of the two wines that he’s placed in front of me. Unknown to me at the time was that both glasses contained exactly the same wine from two different bottles sealed with two different closures. Two cases of the 2012 Two Hoots were bottled with a special new screw cap closure and this was the first side-by-side comparison between the new and standard screw caps that will take place every six months for the next six years.
Traditional corks allow oxygen into the bottle (technically called “oxygen ingress”) extremely slowly over time. Because corks are natural, the rate of oxygen flow can be inconsistent. The screw caps being tested will allow oxygen into the bottle extremely slowly just like a natural cork which should allow the wine to age more naturally and consistently.
Visitors to Fairview Cellars will know how important it is for Bill to know how his wines age. Getting to try library wines is usually a part of the visitors’ experience and Bill is quite rightly proud of how his wines age. Recent winemaker’s dinners have featured wines that were a full decade old and showing beautifully. Visitors are also regularly treated to older vintages at the tasting bar. This fall’s library vintage is slated to be the 2006 Mad Cap.
~ Luke Whittall