| Thoughts on Wine... |
| The Neverending Question: Screwcap - Yes or No? |
| At a recent wine tasting that I organized, a number of the people attending asked me a lot of questions about using screwcaps on wines. At this tasting, there were 6 bottles of wine and a full 1/2 of them were closed using screwcaps. To make it even more interesting, all of these wines were from the LCBO's Vintages program which buys only the more premium wines available from around the world - not the basic, everyday kind of wine you would have with a Tuesday night dinner. Well, maybe this is not all that surprising since one of the wines tasted that lovely spring afternoon was the 2004 Yalumba Y Series Riesling. Yalumba Vineyards is largely responsible for bringing the Stelvin screwcap closure to the Australian wine industy. Now, why do wineries prefer to use screwcap? There are many reason why a winemaker would make such a choice. Normally, it is to reduce the possibility of faults in the wine once it has left the winery. Now, these faults can include (but are not limited to): |
| Corked Oxidized Maderized Green Acetified |
| For purposes of this discussion, we will just deal with the first two in this list as they are the two that apply to the screwcap debate. The word "corked" tends to be overused and over simplified when describing a bad wine. Specifically, "corked" wine is caused by a faulty wood cork. Fungus ont he cork interacts with a chemical that is used to sanitize the cork before it is put in the bottle. When they mix and interact, a compound is produced that taints the wine. Sounds confusing, doesn't it. Well, since we use our senses (smell, sight, taste) when drinking a glass of wine, let's break it down to how it will look to you. A tainted cork will give off a musty smell and the cork will be soft and mushy. Depending on how long the cork has been in contact with the chemical from the sanitizer will dictate how much of the cork will feel mushy. On the other hand, if the cork is dried out, that would be a sign that the wine has oxidized. Oxidation occurs when a bottle is stored upright and not on its side. As a result, the cork dries out and oxygen gets in, producing a stale wine that will eventually turn a deep yellowish brown colour. Now, there are three types of closures used to seal a bottle of wine - natural cork, synthetic cork and screw caps. Either the natural or the synthetic cork can produce the oxidized fault while only the natural cork can produce the corked fault. It is estimated that between 5-10% of the bottles of wine sitting on a liquor store's shelves have cork taint. To combat this, some wine producers switched to a synthetic cork, which are made from plastic. However, as the natural corks create "corked" wine, the synthetic corks are renowned for their inability to prevent oxidation. The next time you get a bottle of wine that has a synthetic cork, take a look at the ends of it. Even without using a microscope, you will see tiny holes in that cork. Unfortunately, over time, those holes allow oxygen to seep into the wine and, eventually, alter the taste. Have you ever smelled a fresh bottle of vinegar or nail polish remover? Not exactly a smell you want when you open a bottle of wine, right? Of course not! Well, that is what you will be smelling if the bottle of wine has oxidized. As a result, some wineries have made the switch to screwcap. By utilizing screwcaps, the "corked" and "oxidized" problems are eliminated in one fell swoop, which is certainly not a bad thing. Now, there are lots of reasons against using a cork (either natural or synthetic) to seal a bottle of wine. However, there are reasons why they are nice to have. After all, corks have been used since the 5th Century BC by the Greeks to close their wine. They have to be good to have lasted to modern times from all the way back then. The biggest reason why a cork was, and is, preferred is the whole romance and playmanship of it all. It is the ceremony, the drama, of watching a server at a restaurant open that bottle of wine for you and your guests. Just picture it - you and your wife have taken a client to a fancy restaurant for dinner. You have all ordered your entrees and now it is time to impress that client with your incredible wine knowledge. No problem, you pass that test with flying colours by choosing a great Australian Shiraz to go with your beautifully aged steaks. Now it is the servers turn to impress by putting on her show. I am sure you are thinking, "What if the cork splits?" Well, luckily that is a fairly rare, especially if you are in a restaurant that has taken the time and energy to create a decent wine list and train their staff on proper serving techniques. In a restaurant like that, they also take the time and effort to store and cellar their wine inventory properly. In the event that it does actually split, though, there are plenty of ways for your server to get it out of the bottle without cork ending up in the wine. So, what is your opinion? Screwcap or cork? At the bottom of the wine bottle, at the end of the glass, it is all a matter of opinion. It is as much about your personal taste as it is that of the winemaker who made the original decision between cork and screwcap. One final point to consider. Within the same winery, from the same winemaker, each wine will be different. Some of the bottles will be with cork and some will be with screw cap. The winemaker will have their own opinion that is just as right and correct as your opinion is in yours. Each of us has our own thoughts on this subject and each of us is right. |