Capping as opposed to corking

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Killa J

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Is there any drawback to bottling in beer bottles with bottle caps as opposed to wine bottles with corks? None of the wine I’m making at this time is meant to be aged for a long time. I already have a collection of 16 and 22 oz beer bottles, a bottle capper, and a bunch of caps.
 
No drawbacks other than the look and perception. I've drank homemade wines that have been under crown seal caps for 7 years and they've been fine. Champagne is aged with a crown seal for a long time before disgorging and I've started to see a few commercial wines under crown seals in 500ml bottles marketed for the young crowd to take wherever/whenever. I currently have around 100 bottles of various fruit wines in beer bottles with crown seals. Another benefit is it's easy to do smaller bottles for when you just want a glass or 2. Having said that I do have a corker and will be putting a few special batches away under cork for gifts and special occasions that warrant it.
 
Capping creates a perfect hermetic seal, while a wine cork "breathes" (that is it allows a microscopic amount of O2 through with reacts with the tannins in the wine to make it "softer" and more mature). If do not plan on aging your wine, then I can not see any technical reason why you would not go for a cap.

But forget all about that. Think of the presentation factor. You have your best girl on the couch, you have Barry White playing softly in the background while a fire is crackling in the fireplace. In a deep sultry voice you ask "would you like some wine my darling".

You then whip out a bottle opener and she see that the wine is in a used beer bottle.

Spontaneously, the fire goes out, the music stops, and (while she is on the way out the door) your best girl loudly laughs at how you need to open the wine with a church key. The next thing you know, she has broken up with you and is now dating a man named Dexter.

In short, I would miss that pop that announces "a good thing is about to come my way".
 
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