By Etty Lewensztain, Wine Expert for the Menuism Wine Blog
Do screw caps on wine turn you off? Ever find yourself skipping right past a seemingly solid bottle at your local wine shop merely because it bears a decidedly unsexy twist top instead of a classic, old-school cork? Well let me tell you, you're not alone!
The growing prevalence of screw caps as an alternative wine closure to corks has generated lots of dissent from savvy wine consumers who refuse to purchase wines sealed with screw caps, irrelevant of what's in the bottle. The common complaint is that screw caps look cheap and that they've caused the demise of tradition. People, it seems, are missing that time-worn ritual of hearing the cork pop. Odd, perhaps, but true.
While I admit that natural corks might be more aesthetically pleasing than screw caps, they do pose the risk of tainting wine with fungi called TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole) and TBA (2,4,6-tribromoanisole). TCA and TBA can travel through a cork's pores, leach out of the cork into the wine, and render it undrinkable, imparting foul aromas of wet cardboard, mold, band-aid or wet dog, and subduing the wine's native aromas.
Despite their less than elegant appearance, screw caps completely eliminate the risk of TCA or TBA contamination, AKA "cork taint," which for wineries and consumers alike, can be a great thing. Wouldn't you rather purchase a wine that is guaranteed to be in perfect condition, as opposed to taking a chance on a wine sealed with a cork, even if it means sacrificing the ceremony?
While screw caps do have their merits, they'll never be able to replace natural corks completely. Unlike natural corks, screw caps are hermetically sealed and prevent the flow of oxygen into a wine. For this reason, they are best reserved for wines that don't require aging and oxygenation, and that are meant to be drunk young and fresh within a few years of their vintage date. This holds true for whites, rosés and reds alike.
Wines that are built for cellaring should pretty much always be bottled under natural cork, not screw cap. Corks serve an extremely important role in the aging process since they are porous in nature, which enables the flow of oxygen into the wine, allowing the wine to evolve over time and develop secondary characteristics, including new aromas and flavors. Oxygen can also alter a wine's texture and has the ability to soften a young wine's harsh tannins, rendering it rounder and more supple with time.
A notable downside to wines bottled under screw cap is the risk of reduction, which can result from an extreme lack of oxygen flow into the wine. Reductive aromas include rotten eggs, burnt rubber or struck matches. While it's something to look out for, reduction has not yet become a widespread problem with wines sealed under screw cap, so fear not.
At the end of the day, both natural corks and screw caps have a purpose to serve.
Check out these five fantastic wines bottled under screw cap and decide for yourself!
Mountford Village Pinot Noir 2008, Waipara, New Zealand
Winzerkeller Andau St. Laurent 2010, Burgenland, Austria
Domaine du Poujol Pico 2009, Languedoc, France
Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Marlborough, New Zealand
Tomero Torrontes 2010, Salta, Argentina
Related Links from Menuism Wine Guides:
• The Six Best Red Wines for Summer
• The Six Best White Wines for Summer
• 9 Offbeat Wines to Try Now
Considering the Screw Cap originally published on the Menuism Wine Blog.
Etty Lewensztain is the owner of Plonk Wine Merchants, an online shop focused on small-production, artisanal and altogether great cheap wine. The food- and wine-obsessed Los Angeles native cut her teeth in the wine biz running a marketing campaign to promote Chilean wine in the U.S., and is certified by the esteemed Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and the American Sommelier Association. Plonk Wine Merchants specializes in hidden gems from around the globe and every bottle in the store is priced below $30. Follow Plonk Wine Merchants on Twitter @PlonkOnline.
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I haven't tried their reds, but I enjoy the Pinot Grigio and Sauv Blanc I have bought from Target.
"the article praises screw caps, but insists that screw tops are "hermetically" sealed and thus not suitable for reds...simply not true and not possible either. This is part of the reason that screw tops have not gained wider appeal. When, in fact, they are engineered to allow a finite and controlled amount of oxygen into a bottle of wine over time...they behave just like corks, without the possibility for taint...
Are there some really bad wines with screw tops and equally so are there some really bad wines with corks Yep...Think before you write and get out more the Central Coast of CA has some killer wines
The cork ceremony is a tradition of LOW QUALITY. We should leave it behind with gratitude.
That said, it is still quite possible to present a screw capped bottle in an elegant way. There are videos you can find online that show you how.
2) The notion that screwcap = cheap is already untrue if you just look around at your local wine-mart. You will find that the really cheap wines - under $5 all have inserted closures: Technical corks (ground up and glued back together cork particles) and plastic corks. Look for yourself, it is true. To find screwcaps you need to look significantly further up the price scale, first you will find white wines in the low teens and then reds in the high teens and low twenties.
People who make wine that can stand on it's quality alone are not afraid of screwcaps. The savvy wine consumer judges the wine itself, and not the closure.
australia was one of the first countries to embrace the screw cap.
we were sick of the primitive production methods in portugal supplying cork that caused 'corking' to a minimum of 5% of our (and the world's) wine.
we put the cork industry on notice, up your game or expect to lose.
they didn't.
screw cap technology has improved to a point that now some of our most expensive red wines ($500+ bottle) are now under screw cap. trials have proven the good keeping and aging qualities of red and white wine under modern screw cap closures.
my many trips to the usa have confirmed a resistance there to non cork wine closures.
but as with all things, sense and economics will eventually win out, even there.
there is no going back now.
As far as the fungus issue. I drink wine every day. I have never had the experience of a corked bottle.
I know a Jurançon winemaker who uses scew caps for his tasting bottles and sells cork closed bottles to customers. I find this a good arrangement.