Winebits 364: Corks, liquor stores, restaurant wine

? When will they learn? The cork business, as has been noted previously, doesn’t understand wine in the 21st century. And their problems with quality control haven’t helped, either. Hence yet another new cork campaign, as related by the Los Angeles Times. to reassure the world that their product is still relevant. Which makes all the same mistakes. The biggest? That the cork people continue to insist that only crappy wine is closed with a screwcap: “Any wine worth its grapes deserves natural cork.” Which hasn’t been true for decades, and is no more true today. This is a very well-done piece of reporting by the Times’ David Pierson, and includes the best numbers I’ve seen on cork’s share of the wine market: Down from 95 percent to 70 percent over the past decade, with screwcaps at 20 percent and plastic cork around 10 percent.

? Bring on the liquor chains: Want more competition for your wine dollar? Then you’ll be glad to hear that a Canadian retailer called Liquor Stores N.A. wants to add to stores and states to the 36 locations it has in Kentucky and Alaska. Shanken News Daily reports that the company has identified possible sites for expansion, and has hired executives away from Walmart and Total Wine and More to oversee the process. The chain expects to carry as many as 8,000 wines in its new stores. If Dallas is any indication, another national retailer with deep pockets will help keep wine prices low.

? Where’s the wine list? The Chicagoist website looks at restaurant wine lists, why they’re rarely mentioned in reviews, and the idea of restaurant wine in general, and includes this: “Let’s face it, there are a few too many wine professionals out there who come across as being pompous and arrogant (if not full of shit).” And this: “This is why we need intelligent wine writers to help guide us and give us some tips. And most importantly, we need writers to remind us to forget trying to know everything but, rather, to have an open mind and experiment and enjoy. Which are just two of the highlights in the interview the site’s John Lenart does with Chicago restaurateur Tom MacDonald. It is honest, accurate, and speaks to the problems wine has in restaurants. Would that people in the wine and restaurant business paid attention to it.