Don't discount quality of screw-top wines

About one in 20 of the bottles opened by the wine-tasting group is a bad bottle.

The usual culprit is the cork.

The increasing popularity of wine in this country and indeed the world has outpaced the supply of corks, especially the quality of corks needed to seal the wine from possible contamination.

Serious wine makers are taking new looks at screw caps.

Not long ago, a screw cap on a bottle meant that the wine inside was so cheap it was not worthy of a cork costing $1 to $2.

Now claims are being made that a screw cap, with new sealing techniques, has a better chance of protecting wine than corks.

Romantics argue opening a screw cap at tableside has no sex appeal, but then neither does a wine that has turned bad, especially if you have invested some real bucks.

The tasters had a lively discussion about the value of a screw cap. We decided to test wines in different price ranges to see if we could detect any issues. The first conclusion: None of the wine was bad.

Here are the evaluations of the wines we compared:

- 2001 Bonny Doon Old Telegram at $36.99. Bonny Doon was an early advocate of the screw cap. This wine was made 100 percent from mourvedre grapes. The complex aroma reminded us of vanilla extract, plum pudding, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. In the mouth, it had a silky texture with tastes of cherries. The finish was long and exquisite.

- 2003 Two Hands Brave Faces at $29.99. This wine was 65 percent shiraz and 35 percent grenache. The aroma offered vanilla, wood, caramel, toffee and mint. It dried out in the back of the mouth. It had the traditional pepper tastes of a shiraz (another name for syrah). This was the second favorite in the tasting.

- 2001 Two Tone Farm Merlot at $16.99. It had a fresh, earthy aroma punctuated by plums and dark fruit. We tasted blueberries on the palate. It was a stunner at this price. "This has an amazing texture," said one taster. This merlot finished first in our tasting.

- 2003 Thornbury Sauvignon Blanc at $19.99. This one white wine in our tasting offered smells of honeysuckle, grapefruit and fresh lime. In the mouth, we tasted lemon and lime, followed by a tart finish.

- 2003 Kim Crawford Pinot Noir at $14.99. Kim Crawford has offered its top-rated wines for some time in a screw cap. This pinot noir proved to be light, simple and fresh tasting. We tasted strawberries, almost like from a gamay grape, with herbal notes.

The verdict: Don't worry about a screw cap as an indicator for wine quality. Unless you are trying to impress someone by candlelight, don't worry about insisting on a cork.

Surfing the wine shelves:

- 1997 Churchill's Late Bottled Vintage Port at $24. This port will not age in the bottle and can be drunk at any time. Expect to find tastes of plums, dark berries and nuts.

- 2003 Banfi Le Rime Chardonnay & Pinot Grigio at $10. This was a light, crisp wine with citrus and apple flavors dominating. Le Rime can be drunk chilled on its own, as an aperitif or with a light pasta or fish.

- 2001 Peter Lehman Cabernet Sauvignon at $16. The aroma offered black fruit and cedar with floral suggestions. In the mouth, we tasted black currants, backed by vanilla and wood tastes from the oaking.

Questions can be sent to Frank Sutherland, editor, The Tennessean, 1100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 or e-mailed to editor