Well I guess I've been a wine drinker for a half-century. Two or three decades ago, cork taint was a massive issue, and I lost count of the number of times I returned corked bottles for a refund. For a while, fake corks made of a dense plastic were all the rage (they still exist). I hate them for several reasons, not least because they can be leaky and allow air to get in and spoil the wine, and because they are hard to re-insert in the half-full bottle. Screw caps are very popular here and are no longer seen as toppings for inferior wine. Real corks are still used by traditional wineries, and good quality control has meant that cork taint is quite rare these days. The wine cork industry in southern Europe is ancient and traditional and I'd hate to see it disappear. The metal collar below the screw cap (as well as the screw cap itself) is environmentally incredibly unfriendly unfortunately. I love using a corkscrew but the only type I'll countenance is the waiter's friend, which, if you avoid poor-quality ones, never fails to get the cork out cleanly and will last a lifetime.