I have been a bit of a fence sitter on the cork-screw cap debate, but last week something happened to make me wish a French monk called Dom Pérignon had never swapped the conical wooden plugs used to seal wine bottles in the 1600s for cork stoppers.Granted, I have found the screw cap to be a most useful closure at several different times in my wine drinking life. There's the climbed-all-the-way-down-the-cliff-to-the-beach-but-left-the-corkscrew-in-the-car moment; the had-to-abandon-the-corkscrew-with-security-at-the-airport incident; and the I-have-45-wines-to-open-and-taste-for-Platter days. At times like these, wines closed under screw cap are a boon.

But, despite the convenience - and the freshness of the wine contained by these closures - I have never been fully convinced that screw caps are what I want my cellaring wines closed with. Some romantic (or foolhardy) part of me still believes that wines age 'better' under cork. And as much as I think closing a wine for youthful drinking under cork is a risky practice, so too do I regard it a risky decision to close a wine for lengthy cellaring under anything but cork.

Because I have very few very old wines in the dark, and consequently seldom drink old vintages, I've had precious few of my own bottles spoilt by cork taint. In fact, I can't recall one. But now, courtesy of TCA, I have a big, fat memory that will plague me whenever I'm feeling blue and hard done by.

The most expensive bottle of wine I have every bought was the inspiration for the theme of the tasting I had to put on for one of the tasting groups I belong to. It was the 2000 vintage of the 'Baron', or more correctly, Chateau-Pichon Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville. I matched this 2nd growth from Pauillac with several other French wines from that vintage that I had in the cellar - Domaine Chandon de Briailles Pernand-Vergelesses 'Il de Vergelesse', Trapet Pere & Fils Chambertin, Château Tour Marcillanet, Haut Médoc Cru Bourgeois and Chateau La Dominante Lalande de Pomerol Bordeaux Superieur - together with two whites I'd had to acquire for the occasion: Chapoutier Hermitage Le Oree Blanc and Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape White Vielles Vigne.

The white Rhônes were wonderful, and they challenged everyone at the table; the Burgundies were charming and delicate; the very much lesser Bordeaux still lively and enjoyable ... and the Baron so very corked. I was, to use a phrase from BBC Reality Show 'Master Chef', absolutely gutted. Even the two delicious Moulin Touchais that we had with dessert - 1990 and 1975 - couldn't put a smile on my face. Even now, a full week later, I can feel myself pouting, gritting my teeth, and sliding into a blue funk as I type.

But, does this mean that I'll demand my wine purchases all come under screw cap from now on? Probably not, but if there's the option of a screw cap, I'll take it. What I am is most certainly cured of is blowing my wine budget on just one bottle. Or at least buying at and consuming it at a venue where I can turn up my nose ...  and return it!