For the reasons you’ve noted, I like the current solution. The resonance with Chianti bottles, the enhanced design presence, the readily referenced vintage date — all good. I wonder if the time hasn’t come for us to open the closure issue up for discussion at the most basic level. We’ve now seen the sexy, sexy glass closures, and the less sexy but perfectly serviceable screwtops have, I think, broken the acceptance barrier among the wine-drinking masses. (Not that public opinion matters; we are practical people seeking practical solutions.) Obvious downsides: we wouldn’t be able to reuse the bottles we’ve amassed — definitely an issue for George and me — and we’d retire the beloved little corker. But let us discuss.

In the near term, perhaps we could print on adhesive paper of the sort used for stamps — either the old kind, which would mean swiping the strips on a sponge before applying, or the newer peel-offs.

I’m all for taking plastics out of the process, and for Matt taking so much of his copious free time to research and write a long post. I am viscerally against Steven Milloy. And I wish that this bit of lore about vintage Barbie dolls were genuine.