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Doug, do you mean that screwcaps were the RULE and not the exception? I'm a little confused. Interesting explanation(s), if that's what you mean. :-)

I work at a wine store in Madison, WI, and have found that it's not terribly hard to convince people to give screw caps a try. New Zealand SB's can be absolutely wonderful (see: Cloudy Bay or Kim Crawford). That said, I agree that it's a difficult balance between the Ritual of the Cork and the fear of corkage. Having had corked wine while camping (the horror! no place to buy more!), I'll be taking mostly screw capped whites on trips this summer.

One question -- if you're letting a screw-capped Australian shiraz sit a bit longer, is the cork still better?

You're not alone, Adam! I feel the same way -- I'm a graduate student and I get so much more work done when I'm camped out in the Espresso Royale or another one of Madison's gazillion local coffee joints. The quality of the coffee makes a big difference to me, though. I'm a part-time barista and I'm picky about smooth, creamy espresso. (Which is starting to sound really good right now...)