Good Libations columnist Gordon Kendall

• Gordon Kendall's column, "Good Libations," runs monthly in Extra. He welcomes readers' questions and comments about wine, beer or spirits.

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Imagine the following scenario: You finally land a date with that gorgeous woman and, in an attempt to impress, take her to a fine restaurant. You order a bottle of wine on the sommelier's recommendation and it is brought to the table with the usual pomp and circumstance. The ambience is abruptly shattered by a harsh crack as the wine steward twists the screw cap off the bottle.

You ordered a premium bottle of wine. What is going on here? Where's the romance?

Some restaurateurs regard this their worst wine nightmare. A romantic mood is destroyed by the crassness of a screw cap.

Here is why many bottles of wine are being stoppered by something other than good old-fashioned cork:

According to industry estimates, approximately 7 percent of all bottles sealed with natural cork are afflicted with cork taint. These corks contain a chemical called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, abbreviated as TCA. It permeates the whole bottle of wine with an aroma reminiscent of moldy newspaper.

The culprit here is an unfortunate byproduct of cork processing that happens at random and is invisible on the cork. While not dangerous to your health, tainted wine is an unpleasant tasting experience. Corked bottles, as they are sometimes called, can crop up at any price point and might be packed next to perfectly fine bottles in the same case.

Most cork is produced in Portugal by stripping off the outer layer of bark from the cork oak tree. The cork plugs are drilled out of this thick bark and washed, bleached, processed and sorted. Somewhere along the way, a reaction can occur between chlorine and mold resulting in the unsavory TCA.

Some forward-thinking winemakers, weary of having their bottles show up corked in blind tastings, are exploring alternative closures. Many have adopted colorful synthetic (plastic) stoppers. These are not without their drawbacks.

In some cases synthetic corks are so hard that pulling on them breaks your corkscrew. The long-term aging characteristics of synthetics on wine are not known at this time.

Some winemakers like agglomerated corks, which are made of particles of cork bonded together like particle board. Unfortunately, these corks are even more prone to taint.

Experimentation has resulted in good quality, refined screw caps, and progressive winemakers are embracing them.

Many New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, German Rieslings and California wines are being sealed this way. Some clever California winemakers, such as Bonny Doon's waggish Randall Grahm, have adopted whimsical marketing campaigns, using bawdy puns that attempt to sell the consumer on the idea of screw caps.

The long-term aging prospects of screw caps have not been established, but we know that most customers age their wine for about as long as it takes to get home with it.

Many in the wine business believe that in 10 years almost all bottles will be sealed with screw caps.

The biggest impediment to universal acceptance of the screw cap is its image as the seal of choice for rotgut swill. Restaurant owners are generally opposed to screw caps for this reason.

Times are changing, however, and it won't be long before these innovative closures are accepted even for a romantic dinner.

And they're easy to open!