Life in black and white: thoughts on corks, screwcaps and alternatives

I hate corks

   Are you saying that you really want to unscrew a bottle of la Tache?

No, actually I don't think that screwcaps are the answer.

   But you say you don't like corks...

Yes, I hate the unreliability of corks and I don't believe that screwcaps - however reliable - are really appropriate for bottles of fine wine.

   Why not? They've been proven to work brilliantly.

Yes, and so do quartz movements in watches. But I don't want one in my $10,000 Patek Philippe. It's not an efficiency issue, it's a matter of perception. Luxury goods need luxury packaging. Expensive perfumes don't come with basic screwcaps.

   But surely, it's just a matter of time. People will learn how much better screwcaps are than corks.

What evidence do you have for that expectation? There are actually fewer bottles of screwcapped wine on sale in the US than there were two years ago. And no one is seriously succeeding in selling them in China. Even the Australians are using natural corks there. So that's two big markets that aren't heading towards screwcaps. Actually, I'd argue that being sealed with a screwcap has been a major handicap for some Australian super-premium wines in the US.

   Yes, it's frustrating... Why can't consumers there see the logic? Screwcaps are simply more reliable than corks.

Well, consumers won't - in your words - see the logic until the people who produce the wines they like point them in that direction. Most consumers don't read articles about wine; they simply go out and buy a bottle of something they think will taste good or make them look good. And when all the top wines from France, Italy, Spain and California have corks, the screwcapped bottles stand out on the shelf like the guy who's showed up to a smart wedding in jeans and a t-shirt. I know, because we tried using screwcaps for our le Grand Noir reds in the US - and had to switch back within six months. Retailers and consumers simply didn't get it.

   Screwcaps are working in some countries.

 There are only three countries that currently favour screwcaps for quality wines: New Zealand, Australia and - to a lesser extent - Austria. (Switzerland loves screwcaps, but only for its cheaper wines). All three, interestingly, have small populations and a relatively young industry. (And that's true of Austria too). British consumers accept screwcaps - on lower-priced wines, but they don't want them on their Burgundies.

   What about New Zealand Sauvignon and Pinot Noir?

Okay, those are the proverbial exceptions to the rule; they also hit higher price points than other countries, but they are a tiny part of the market.  

   So..?

Well, most of winemaking Europe is against screwcaps because it's naturally conservative, and the US is against them because US producers like selling highly priced wines and can see the disconnect between the $100 price tag and the Coca Cola-style closure. (However prettied up it might be).

   So, you don't see them changing?

Why should they? Who's pushing them to do so? People are happily shelling out $1000 for top Bordeaux with unreliable corks. On that basis, you could say if it ain't broke, why fix it?

   But you admit that corks are unreliable?

Yes, as I said, I hate the horrible variability - both in terms of TCA, from marginal to blatant, and the far more serious incidence of random oxidation.

  So what about Diam and Nomacork?

I like both of those a lot more than I like natural corks. We use Nomacork for our le Grand Noir wines (apart from the bottles we send to China, unfortunately!) but they are not the answer.

   Why not? Surely they both offer the reliability you're looking for. And Nomacork even offers wineries the choice of how much oxygen permeability they want. Isn't that a perfect solution?

Yes, it's terrific, but I'm sorry, both Diam and Nomacork are still effectively copies of natural corks, And even when a copy is better than the original, it's still a copy. And I still don't really want to pull one from my bottle of la Tache.

   So what's your solution?

Well, I don't actually have one but I do like the notion of the Vino-Lok/Vino-Seal glass stoppers.

   Why are they better than screwcaps or synthetics?

Because they're far more stylish and genuinely innovative, while referring back to the notion of decanter stoppers. They're made of glass, can be branded with the producer's name - and even the vintage - are easy to remove and replace. What's not to like?

   Well, the price for starters!

They cost the same as a top quality cork and applying them is little more difficult than applying a screwcap. Producers like Henschke in Australia and Cusumano in Sicily are using them, pretty happily from what I hear. 

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Half of all Hill of Grace is now under Vino-Lok

   But how reliable are they?

Okay, if the bottles aren't perfect, the stoppers won't work properly: they're less forgiving than natural or synthetic corks. But that's just a QC issue at the glass manufacturer. Steven Henschke told Dr Vino that, after five years of testing, he's happy with them. The bigger question is 'how well does wine mature under them?'

   And what's the answer?

Obviously nobody knows, yet, and nobody stands much chance of knowing for the simple reason, that too few proper tests are being carried out. It's the same as it was for screwcaps. The first test on those was conducted at Haut Brion in the late 1960s. And nobody bothered  to follow it up. Everyone says how wonderful the Universities of Bordeaux, Davis and Geisenheim are, but until quite recently, none of them did any proper research in any of these august institutions on quality red wine under screwcaps. It was left to the Australians. So, now we're all getting excited at Chateau Margaux and Davis finally doing some closure research, which is great, but the Margaux tests haven't even included the glass stoppers.Tragically, wine producers across the globe seem to have decided on corks, screwcaps, Nomacorks or Diams, and stopped looking elsewhere. I think many of them are much more likely to have an affair than to explore other ways to seal their bottles. Stephen Henschke is my hero, for saying to Dr Vino that he'd "always viewed screwcap as a transitional closure, poised between cork and, well, we don’t know what,”

   But let me get this straight. Are you saying that you think that glass stoppers are or aren't the answer?

A wise man once gave me an invaluable piece of advice when I was struggling to decide between two options. "In my experience", he said, "the correct choice when you are juggling between A and B, is often C". I don't know whether the C in this instance is the glass stopper or something we haven't seen yet. All I do know in my own mind is that in a decade the debate will have moved on and the cork fascists ("We've always had them so we'll always have them") and the screwcap fascists ("We've proven how well they work over the last decade; everyone will come round to our point of view") will have a real argument on their hands. What I can't understand is how, in an age when we've sent robots to Mars and decoded the genome, the wine industry is still essentially arguing over whether to seal its cherished bottles with unreliable bits of wood or cheap-looking copies, or even cheaper-looking aluminium screwcaps.

If you found this interesting, please do read the comments below; You may also want to read the follow up piece to this