Looking for Closure: Screwcaps vs. Corks

[southern girl]

Plumpjack Winery bottles half their Reserve Cab (I think this years is $125)with screw caps and half with cork...definitely not Thunderbird. It's nice not to have to worry about cork taint.

The GM, John Conover, mentioned they are getting lots of inquiries from other Napa wineries...especially after one Napa winery had to dump a whole vintage a couple of years ago after tainted corks were used...I'll have to see if I can find the article...a lawsuit (surpirse) is pending.

Personally, I would love to see more screwtops used since when I travel, it is generally with carry on only...which means...no corkscrew

[=Mark]

Personally, I would love to see more screwtops used since when I travel, it is generally with carry on only...which means...no corkscrew

So, which do you feel would be a more threatening weapon, a corkscrew or a broken in half wine bottle?

[CathyL]

Randall Graham is screwcapping his Ca' del Solo Big House White and Big House Red. Read all about it here.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Here's the issue. Screwtops are fine for wines that are intended to be drunk right away. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs are not made for aging. The problem with screwtops and artificial corks is that nobody knows how it will affect wines during the aging process. For example, let's take 2000 Bordeaux which is a heralded vintage. A case of say Cheval Blanc might cost $4000 and won't be ready to drink until the year 2030. Since nobody knows what long term effects artificial corks or screwtops will have on the ageability of wine, nobody is willing to take a chance to buy wine now with an artificial stopper only to find out in 30 years that it is ruined. That's why the changeover to other types of stoppers than corks will be very slow. Consumers would be happier if they came up with a system to rid infected corks of TCA.

[Ron Johnson]

Steve, is there any data suggesting that a screw top is a less reliable method of sealing a bottle of wine for long term aging that natural cork?

Natural cork's biggest problem is TCA. However, it is also a less than perfect sealer itself for long term aging, and I am aware that many collectors get their best bottles re-corked over time.

If that is true, why is there anymore risk in using a screw cap than a natural cork? Is it only fear of the unknown?

[tommy]

Steve, is there any data suggesting that a screw top is a less reliable method of sealing a bottle of wine for long term aging that natural cork?

one theory is that cork allows for the exchange of air over time. screw tops, assuming a "perfect seal" is created, would not.

there is no data because there hasn't been 30, 40, 50, 100 yrs to test it. that, i think, is the heart of the issue.

[Fat Guy]

My understanding is that they have been in use for 20+ years in Australia, but the data are inconclusive. I don't think there's any scientific indication or fear that the screwtops will damage wine in the sense of allowing it to oxidize or become "corked." The 20-year-old Australian bottles, if anything, taste fresher than their corked counterparts. That, it is suggested, might be the problem. In any event, I hope the Bordeaux producers have bothered to devote a few cases each year for a long time to alternate seal technologies -- without their data it will never happen and we will continue to lose 1%-7% of wine to bad corks. Perhaps corks will be improved, but if anything the increasing scarcity of the resource makes it likely that on the whole they will get worse. Right now there are a few barriers to screwtops other than the risk-averse/rational argument (not enough data so I'd rather risk 5% of my collection always than take the chance of risking 100% of it):

--The ritual (people enjoy the opening ritual)

--The conditioning (people associate screwtops with cheap wine)

--The fear of being first (the high-end producers who go first and do the educating will see their brand images eroded, but they will pave the way for others to follow without similar cost)

--And most of all the conservatism of the over-55 white male consumer, who doesn't want to change anything. Since this is who buys fine Bordeaux, you will not see screwtops on those wines anytime soon. When today's 35-year-olds are nearing 55, you might see a change. Or maybe not.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Ron - The data shows that screwtops make an air tight seal. And as Fat Guy has noted about Australian wines, they probably age better in an air tight environment. Air (let in through faulty corks) is the number one murderer of good bottles of wine. The amount of air un the ullage (the space between the wine and the cork) is enough to allow the wine to go through the reduction process. But still the problem is that any of the name wine producers in the world are afraid to switch.

There are other problems with corks that make them a poor choice other than TCA. They are irregularly sized. Some manufacturers mill them slightly too thin. I have bottles of wine from Marquis de Riscal from the 50's where for different bottlings they seem to have used different lots of corks. Some of the corks are a hair too thin and those bottles are oxidized. But some of the cortks are milled properly and those wines have aged perfectly.

[Ron Johnson]

Thanks Steve.

I have never been a believer in the air exchange theory because I agree that there is sufficient air in the ullage. I have also experienced your frustration with the lack of consistency in cork circumference.

For me the biggest problem is TCA taint. I open probably 18-25 bottles of wine per month, and most months have at least one bottle with some level of TCA taint. Some months are higher. Some wines are returnable if you have the receipt, remember the retailer, and didn't buy the wine during a trip to Europe, but its still a pain in the ass.

I enjoy the ritual of the cork, and love to brandish my Laguiole, but corked wine is always a tragedy, especially when its a bottle of Chave that I have been holding for 16 years.

[Ron Johnson]

there is no data because there hasn't been 30, 40, 50, 100 yrs to test it.  that, i think, is the heart of the issue.

Is the screw-cap a recent invention?

[Fat Guy]

Another way to put it is that wine ages a certain way when bottled with a flawless cork, and it does not necessarily age the same way with a screwtop. Whatever the reason -- my understanding is that the air exchange theory can survive the ullage argument but I don't know the details -- that seems to be the case. What they really need to do before the Lafites of the world will switch to screwtops is create a closure that exactly replicates the function of a flawless cork. That will sell. Everything else will probably require 20+ more years of experimentation. Still, for 99% of the world's wine the screwtop is an unassailable technology that I hope to see implemented very soon.

[Fat Guy]

Ron, my understanding is that the inert-pvc-lined screw cap is 20 or so years old but only the Australians started using them that far back. Previous generations of screw caps would not have been adequate for long-term aging of wine because the liquid came in contact with metal and over time that would impart a flavor. That's my understanding at least.

[John Whiting]

It's interesting that no one has mentioned those areas -- large parts of Portugal, for instance -- that rely on the cork industry for their livelihood. This, of course, is no reason for staying with corks forever, any more than automobiles should have been suppressed in order to protect the manufacturers of buggy whips. Nevertheless, it should be dealt with as part of the total picture

[tommy]

Nevertheless, it should be dealt with as part of the total picture

how?

[Fat Guy]

John, indeed the cork industry (which is both separate from and inextricably linked to the workers) is powerful and no doubt exerts pressure against the changes; at least that's what lots of wine columnists say without giving specific examples. There are also environmental issues, of course: Cork comes from trees and the industry is quite destructive, or has traditionally been. Then again the screwtop industry probably has employees too, and may have an environmental impact. I don't know. I think these issues are important -- how could they not be? -- but don't bear on the question of the efficacy of various seals.

[Fat Guy]

Recent piece in Wine Spectator:

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Archives...75,3627,00.html

[Bux]

There's something less elegant about a screw top than an old fashioned beer bottle cap. I seem to recall Jancis Robinson favoring them as a solution. I don't know if they'd last any less time than a screw top. I think they lost the market to screw caps because the really tight ones required a bottle opener, but that might be exactly what the wine connoisseur wants. I collected bottle caps as a kid. Who the hell ever collected screw caps?

[Fat Guy]

They use those bottle caps during the Champagne-making process.

[Ron Johnson]

It's interesting that no one has mentioned those areas -- large parts of Portugal, for instance -- that rely on the cork industry for their livelihood.

I wonder if people who work in landfills feel the same way toward the recent trend of recycling?

[Steve Plotnicki]

" It's interesting that no one has mentioned those areas -- large parts of Portugal, for instance -- that rely on the cork industry for their livelihood. This, of course, is no reason for staying with corks forever, any more than automobiles should have been suppressed in order to protect the manufacturers of buggy whips. Nevertheless, it should be dealt with as part of the total picture"

Well I'm happy to include them in the total picture if all the wine collectors can deduct what we've lost over the years due to their ineptness and uncaring as an industry. Forget about the TCA problem, which one would have thought the cork manufacturers in Portugal would have solved by now through research, how about the hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine that need to be thrown away due to the fact that they provided a poor product. Someone who bought a bottle of wine in 1950 and opens it in 2002 first finds out it's bad because they milled the cork wrong or cut it in a way that prevents it from being a tight seal. Of course there are people who pay $3000 for that bottle at auction in 2002 only to find the same surprise. It seems to me, that the cork industry has historically acted monopolistic about their product and I'm not exactly sure they deserve our sympathy.

[Adam Balic]

Screwcaps have been used for some time in Australia, mostly for white wines. The only negative comments I have seen have been astheticly based, oh and some idiots try to open the bottles with corkscrews. I don't really see any reason not to age reds in screwtops as well, other then it looks a little cheap. Some wine makers I have spoken to favour the screwcaps over "plastic" corks as they have detected some strange flavours in wine aged with plastic closures. Here is a link to some information on the product.

http://www.wineoftheweek.com/screwcaps/his...story.html#stel

Incidentally, those cork oak forests in Portugal are a important habitat for several rare types of birds etc, so there are some environmental issues (and culinary if you are Cabrales ) to do with corks as well.

[Niall]

Some South Australian wineries have been putting Rieslings with the Stelvin Cap away for 20 years; and they have notice no problems at all..

I have no problems with the Stelvins at all; I believe grosset won't be putting Corks in any of their whites. And as thats my favourite Riesling I'd better not have any problem with it....

[Fat Guy]

To reiterate, I think anybody who has studied the question at all agrees that a screwtop can keep wine safe for 20+ years. The question is, will it behave the same as a flawless cork over that period of time? And the answer seems to be no. The whites that have been tested taste "fresher" according to everything I've read. There's a big question mark next to that in terms of its desirability for all wine. Bordeaux ages a certain way in bottles with good corks. If you opened up a 20-year-old Bordeaux and it tasted fresh, would that be a good thing? It's unclear. I think the screwtop advocates are barking up the wrong tree -- no pun intended -- when they talk about the aging potential of screwtops. Who cares about that market, except insofar as image is concerned? Most wine isn't meant to be aged. Get the screwtops on those bottles and you'll fee up the cork supply for the high-end bottles. Those producers are going to be a lot slower to change, as well they should be.

[Adam Balic]

Steve - my understanding is that those wines stored for 20+ in screwcaps do undergo changes associated with aging (changes in the structure of the phenols etc etc), so they don't taste like a new wine twenty years later. but yes if a certain amount of oxidation is required then cork would seem to be a better choice.

[nightscotsman]

Some wine makers I have spoken to favour the screwcaps over "plastic" corks as they have detected some strange flavours in wine aged with plastic closures

Supreme Corq, the makers of the most popular "plastic" cork, happens to be a client of ours (we did their Web site years ago). The SupremeCorq is actually made from surgical grade thermoplastic elastomer. In other words, you could implant one of them permanently inside your body with no ill effects. Not that you would, of course. The material is completely innert and does not out-gas.

They, and the wineries that use the corks have done extensive testing. Here is a quote from the site:

SupremeCorq closures have performed exceptionally well in test after test by some of the most respectable food-research laboratories in the world. Tests for permeability and compression. Tests for pH levels and titratable acidity. The list goes on. In each instance, SupremeCorq was equal to or superior to bark cork.

Send me a private message if you would like more detailed information on their testing techniques and results and I can get you a password to view the full reports.

The bottom line is that we will be seeing more and more synthetic closures in the future. The major buyers are not happy with the amount of spoilage from traditional cork (I've read up to 15% gets corked) and they are tired of losing money from returns (they don't get any refunds from the producer). There may come a day when one of the major retail/supermarket chains will refuse to buy any wine without a synthetic closure. Who will be first?