I'm a hospitality child, I've spent my fair share of time running restaurants and hotels, and for me a part of the romance of presenting wine at a table was the unveiling of the wine. The time it took to present, uncork and, if needed, decant the wine at the table added to the experience of the evening. It also gave you a chance to connect with the customer. I still get a buzz from uncorking a wine, there is and will always be an inherently exciting aspect to the moment of anticipation as you wait to see how the wine has reacted in the bottle. It is a completely different experience with a waiter who cracks your bottle at the table sounding like a tinny of VB.
Think of cork as the vinyl of the wine world, as with the invention of the cassette tape then the cd things have been invented that arguably are better for the wine long term, but nothing comes close to real sensory feel and experience you get with the classics. Go home tonight put on a vinyl, slowly uncork a bottle of your favourite red and have a glass whilst listening to the music crackle away and let the world slow down for an hour. Sometimes the best wine moments are the ones we keep for ourselves...
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