Cork, Screw or Plastic

[HappyHammer]

We had friends over a couple of weeks ago and they bought a bottle of white wine with them as we only drink and stock red. I reached in the draw for the corkscrew and when I went back to the bottle noticed it had a screw cap. I must admit I had a little chuckle to myself thinking they were cheap bastards when I realised it was a pretty decent vineyard (Can't remember which one).

It seems that the question regarding the seal on our favourite drop is wide open so I wondered what your thoughts were on whether Cork, Screw caps or plastic corks were the best?

HH

[silentC]

I have to admit to being a bit old-fashioned in this regard.

Screw caps are for bottles of tomato sauce and Lambrusco. The plastic corks seem, well, plastic. I know that many of the bigger wineries are experimenting with screw caps. That should tell you something: they're cheaper.

I suppose with the 'made for drinking now' range, it doesn't really matter. I don't know whether it's BS or not but I was told by a chap in a winery that the wine being in contact with the cork allows it to 'breathe' and helps with the ageing process. If your bottle of 2003 blended red is going to sit on your table in the restaurant for a maximum of two minutes before being opened, I don't suppose it makes any difference.

Besides, being woodworkers, I'd have thought the cork would be more appealing.

[jackiew]

went to a v. upmarket vineyard in South Australia and they bottle some of their v. v. expensive wines without corks.

their argument for doing so went something like this .... cork is a natural product which gets stripped off of trees. These trees have birds pooing on them, shepherds pissing on them etc etc etc. result is that sometimes corks can be contaminated. They reckoned if we found a fair percentage of the cans of baked beans we bought spoiled when we opened the can we'd be kicking up a big fuss but for some reason people don't complain that much when its wine that is spoilt. sometimes people don't even realise the wine HAS been spoilt .. but they may decide never to buy that wine again because they didn't like it.

If someone gives me a bottle of wine I either like it or don't like it ... If someone consistently brought wine which I didn't like I might then suspect they were being cheap but if it was $6.99 a bottle and tasted fine I wouldn't care.

where's the "don't care" option in the poll

[silentC]

Sounds like a long winded way of saying "screw caps are cheaper" to me. Probably a lot more wineries would switch but I'd bet they are worried that they will lose market share because in most people's minds, screw cap = cheap wine.

The question is not whether or not screw caps are more reliable, there's probably no doubt about that, but whether there is any improvement in the wine when it is cellared with cork. Seems to fly in the face of reason that wineries would be denying this now after several hundered years of winemaking. Screw cap bottles have been around for a long time too.

[HappyHammer]

Jackiew, Might get too many people copping out if I gave the don't care option.

On cheap isn't necessarily bad, I have to agree I bottle 3 dozen bottles of red every year that I get from a vineyard in Mudgee. They send me the keg (always a red blend), 36 corks and labels and it works out about $5.75 a bottle. In addition to the wine we also get a great day putting the wine into bottles where we invite friends to buy a share of a keg, or a full keg and then have everyone around for a BBQ and to take part in the bottling of everyones wine. Sometimes don't make 36 bottles due to production line tasting. The most we bottled in one day was 144 bottles or four kegs. Great fun!

HH

[Wood Borer]

I voted for the cork but like others, I buy the bottle of wine for the wine and not for the label, bottle or whether it has a cork or not.

If the other alternatives for cork perform just as well or better then go for it as cork is a diminishing resource from what I hear. Silent's comment about keeping the wine for a long time and the cork taking part in the aging process is interesting.

- Wood Borer

[PAH1]

Scientifically the better quality synthetic stoppers are a great deal better than cork. You get the controlled ageing of cork without any issue of spoilage, not from sheppards etc but chemicals from the wood going into the wine.

A largish porportion of wine is spoiled as Jackie said, at $3000+ a bottle for the upper end of town it is a significant risk. The problem is exactly SilentC's attitude, it is cheap bad etc if it does not have a real cork and therefore does not sell as well. The exception is at the very lowest end of the market where price is the only issue.

[silentC]

The problem is exactly SilentC's attitude

Don't go blaming my attitude for the wine industry's problems

According to this link, they've yet to come up with something that seals as well as cork, except for screw caps:

http://www.wineanorak.com/corks/introduction.htm

[PAH1]

[QUOTE=silentC]Don't go blaming my attitude for the wine industry's problems

Ah context is a wonderful thing, it was the attitude of the consumer that you expressed. Forgive me if it sounded harsh

I was actually talking about the controlled oxidation/spoilage issue, the problem is that cork comes in a variety of grades and it becomes one of those apple/orange comparisons. Wine that is hermetically sealed stays put, no ageing, given that a good claret apparently takes about 20yrs of slow oxidation to be drinkable sealing is not really the full answer. There is a worldwide shortage of cork and this has driven the alternative technology, but at the core is the belief of many people that wine needs a cork, helped admitedly because of some very bad examples of early synthetic corks and the fact that for many years only cheap wine came in screw caps.

[silentC]

I was just reading another article by the same chap (who is a supporter of synthetic stoppers) on the results of some tests carried out by the Australian Wine Research Institute.

http://www.wineanorak.com/closuretrial.htm

It's pretty well agreed that a screw cap provides as close to a perfect seal as you can get. The surprising result was that the bottles sealed with a screw cap presented a rubber-like taste/aroma after 18 months. The consensus was that this may be due to a lack of oxygen.

Of the synthetics, although none of them contaminated the wine with TCA (this is the chemical in cork that causes corking in about 1-2% of bottles) they've been unable to make one that seals as well as cork for as long a period without making it so tight it's impossible to pull.

The upshot is that if the wine is for drinking in the short term, a screw cap is probably the best choice because it is not going to contaminate the wine. In the long term, the jury is out on whether a bottle aged under a screw cap is going to taste the same as a bottle aged under cork.

"An important question to consider: do we really want a perfect seal?"

[bitingmidge]

Well I didn't vote.

I don't drink, and only ply m'Lady with champers.

Of course, I wouldn't think of opening the bottle any other way than with one clean blow of my sabre......blindfolded.

Under the circumstances I don't actually care what they use to seal the things as long as they cover the seal with something pretty.


bitingzorro

[bob w]

I must admit I do like a good red and so far have been very disappointed with the one's I have tried with screwtops regardless of the price. I have always believed that in order to age a wine properly the bottle had to be laid on it's side and therefore the cork kept moist. Is this to stop the cork from drying out and shrinking whereby allowing air to affect the process?
Regards
Bob (hic)

[Jack E]

I was at the Wolf Blass Winery on Thursday (lucky me) and was surprised to see screw caps only on their up market range of wines.
I asked why this was the case and was told it was primarily to eliminate oxygen. Another reason cork isn't used is due to the fact that it can be quite easily contaminated by outside influences, especially in the chemical processes used to clean the raw cork product.
I disagree with Silent C's comments that this is a cost base change. I would hate to be paying the bill for the re-tooling and the changes to production process in a winery with the output of wolf Blass or any of the other large wineries which are changing to screw caps.
With the amount of money spent on wine these days I find it hard to believe any change in the process would me made on a whim and I have a fair bit of faith in those making the decisions at many of the better wineries in Australia.
I have been known to spend a little money on my wines and do not hesitate to buy what I hope to be a good wine with a screw top.
I guess only time will tell and only if my wines are cellared correctly.

[silentC]

Jack,

I'd find it hard to believe that any decision made by a company was not at least partly based on economics. When faced with a decision, the first alternative is to do nothing, which is exactly what they have done for hundreds of years. It would be nice to think that companies do things for the common good but anyone running a business will tell you that they are not a charity.

The reason they have done nothing for so long is that for some reason people have been more accepting of the problem, or don't even realise it is there. People are now starting to reject wine that has corked, so some wineries think they need to do something about it. We are talking around 1-2% of bottles produced. Cork is also becoming scarce and is likely more costly to harvest and process than to manufacture a screw cap.

If you read some of the literature around on it, you'll see that there is a debate raging on the subject and it's being conducted by people who know a lot more about it than you or I. If you read the link I posted, you'll see that they can't even decide whether the cork has anything to do with the ageing process but neither can they rule it out.

Naturally a winery that has made the change (ie. Wolf Blass) is going to a) be convinced that it was the right thing to do and b) try to convince you of the same. They want you to buy their wine, after all.

[Jack E]

Silent C

I do agree that the wineries are changing corkage methods due to the fact that cork is a finite resource.
This, coupled with the huge costs in production change lead me to believe that any changes would not be made lightly and they would only change to a suitable alternative. Obviously they will tell customers that the change they have made is for the best but I think this will be more truth than fiction due to the fact they stand to lose multiple millions of dollars if even one vintage is lost due to the change.
One thing that does intrigue me is why Wolf Blass have only changed to screw tops on their premium range and not on the "drink now" varieties.
I have also read that the losses due to corkage in Australian wines are as high as 1 in 12. I read this in the magazine that comes quarterly from one of my wine clubs.
As you said, it is unsure whether a screw cap will allow wine to age and I guess we will have to wait and see. I look forward to opening the Wolf Blass 2001 Black Label Shiraz in about eight years, I will let you know how it goes.
If it is no good I will be sending it back to Mr Blass as it was not cheap!!
I also have a bottle of Seppelt Para Liquer Port of the 1983 vintage which I was given as a gift for being a groomsmen on the weekend. It is sealed with cork and says it is drinking at its best right now although can be cellared for many years. Perhaps I will crack the two together in eight years and compare!!