Deluxe Screwtop

Is the wine world ready for a $100-plus screw-cap bottle? That’s what the Bay Area trust-funders who run Plumpjack Winery (Gordon and Bill Getty and Gavin Newsome) are wondering. The wine is their 1997 Cabernet reserve, which sells for about $135 a bottle. About half of it will go into bottles with screw caps.

What sounds like the ultimate wine brat prank is actually a way to get around the problems with corked wines. Corking, which gives wine a moldy smell like wet cardboard, is estimated to taint 2% to 5% of wines. Producers have tried solving the problem by using plastic corks, and there has been some talk about screw caps, but until now, no fine-wine producer has attempted it. And certainly not on a wine that expensive.

“Of course we have a mind-set to confront,� Gordon Getty said. “That’s why I decided on one of our finest wines. We’re making a loud statement.�