What’s So Screwy (or is it scary) About Screw Caps?
By Cole Danehower
7/21/04

You know, I used to be like you. “Screw caps!” I said, “I’ll never give up my trusty cork.” But no more. I have seen the light—or more accurately, I have tasted the wine. And now I’ve traded in that crusty old cork for the fresh-fangled reliability of twist cap enclosures.

photo credit "STELVIN+, Pechiney-Alcan

Oh, I’ll admit it was tough . . .
like giving up the buggy whip, the slide rule, the typewriter, and leaded gas . . . but once I got over the fanciful notion that there was something inherently romantic about always wondering if that newly opened cork-closed bottle would be fresh, TCA-free, devoid of taint, without excessive ullage, or if it had shrinking cork syndrome, I learned to love new the new technology.

Yes, it is true, we have in fact evolved beyond the 3,000 year-old tradition of cork enclosures. We have invented a more reliable solution: welcome to the 21st century, the screw cap enclosure is here.

Not that the screw cap is all that new. It was first applied to wines in the 1970s, but in the late 1990s and especially within the last few years it has gained a rolling momentum as an alternative to cork-enclosed wine bottles.

Why is an alternative desirable? Because of the invariable variability of an organic enclosure such as cork. It has been widely estimated that between 3% and 10% of all newly released wine will experience a problem with faults due to cork contamination of one sort or another.

In recent years, cork faults have been perceived as increasing. The rising demand for cork from the wine industry, it is claimed by some, have led to a shortage of high quality cork, resulting in a larger percentage of low-cost corks and concomitant rates of contamination.

In no other industry would an average 7% product failure be considered tolerable. Yet in wine, we have raised this fault to the status of romance.

Indeed, the very ceremony of opening a bottle at a fine restaurant exists solely to test whether a bottle is good or not—and this is called wine service, and you are expected to pay for it!* Considered objectively, it is absurd. You don’t expect to have a store clerk open a carton of milk and pour you a taste to ensure it is fresh before purchasing—why do we do it with wine?

Cork variability is a headache that consumers don’t need!

And, by the way, neither do winemakers.

I recall visiting Beaux Frères winery one day (a highly respected upscale Oregon pinot noir producer), and was surprised to see over a hundred clean wax cups filled with cheap white wine, each with a single cork floating on the wine. Winemaker Michael Etzel and his assistants were assiduously sniffing each cup and making notes on a clipboard form.

Mike Etzel

Michael explained to me that they were testing corks of different types, including such variables as quality, cost, source, vendor, and processing method. They were using a bulk white wine as their aroma “control” since it had straightforward and clean (not oaked) aromas. The corks had been sitting in the wine overnight in order to get some exposure time between the liquid and the solid.

I was surprised—no, I really have to say I was shocked—to note how distinctly different the aromas rising out of each cup were. With only the cork as the variable, I could easily smell the differences between many of the corks, and could just as easily deduce their potential effects on wine left in a cellar for even a few years.

My eyes were beginning to open.

Recently, they were opened even wider. As part of a series of Oregon white wine tastings for my newsletter (Oregon Wine Report), I received as samples two bottles each of Pinot gris and Pinot blanc, each wine in screw cap and cork-enclosed formats from WillaKenzie Estates. What a great opportunity, I thought to test the efficacy of each enclosure (at least for these fruit forward white wines).

I tasted each blindly, and had no trouble picking out the screw capped wine—t was just that little bit fresher. There was nothing at all wrong with the cork-closed wines, they just seemed a skosh more closed.

Cork has been used to store wine since the days of clay amphora. One of it’s most important supposed benefits is that is allows a controlled passage of oxygen into the wine, contributing to its evolution in the bottle. Yet there are studies that call into question the reality of this phenomenon. The great French oenologist Emile Peynaud has said that the perfect cork would create a perfect airtight seal—something that cork essentially does not do.

Yet screw caps can do either. While the idea is to create a true airtight seal, there is also technology that allows for controlled “gas permeability” in screw tops in order to help with ageing. Even so, the entire process of air exchange is controversial, and most, if not all, of the processes believed to involve wine’s maturation in the bottle are anerobic.

It is fair to say that the true ageability of wine in screw tops is not yet known. Indeed, a recent study by Hogue Cellars, the first rigorous study by a winery to be publicly revealed, showed that the benefits of fruit retention in the screw caps were more clear in the Chardonnay then the Merlot. With white wines generally being consumed earlier then reds, the case for freshness and purity of fruit shown by the screw caps seems a closed case for early drinking whites.

So yes, the case for long maturing reds would still seem to be open. But knowing the winemakers of the Pacific Northwest as I do, if any one of them offered for sale their highest end product in a screw cap, I would unhesitatingly buy the wine and plan on storing it in my cellar.

I mean, what’s the ultimate risk? Too well, I remember the sad case of my New Year’s Eve, 1999.

As my now wife and I counted the minutes toward the new millennium, I went down to my cellar where some days before I had selected the proper wine and set it upright to gather the sediment at the bottom. With reverence I brought up the 1974 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon I had saved since release.

With care I removed the foil capsule and revealed an appropriately aged-looking cork: some dirt, some mold, some red staining . . . nothing out of the ordinary for such an old wine. Gently, I prodded the tip of a corkscrew into the soft cork . . . and with a sickening ease the cork itself started sliding down into the bottle before I could even get a single twist into it.

Long ago, my cork had shrunk (despite the bottle being always stored on its side). Who knows how long I had been supporting big expectations with nothing more than vinegar.

Luckily, I had a back up: 1976 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Rock Terrace. Repeating the procedure, I was relieved to see what seemed a solid seal in the cork, as my corkscrew gripped nicely and the cork removed with appropriate resistance.

But I was to be disappointed again. This time the wine smelled and tasted like . . . moldy cork. It was the essence of what we call corked wine.

Wine should not be such a risky proposition, and screw caps help take the risk out of wine.

But there are many of us who resist. We just can’t get over the sense that a screw cap means cheap wine (tell that to the owners of Plumpjack bottles!), or that we will lose something if we don’t hear the pop of a cork.

Well, I suppose there are also folks who still feel Port and cigars are the exclusive province of men. Innovation is trying; progress is tough. But as my wife likes to tell me in other contexts: “Get over it!”

And I have. For my intermediate drinking (now out to 5 years) I have no qualms at all about screw-capped bottles. For my long-term ageing, it is a toss up. When my favorite wineries start selling their wines in screw tops—even their $65 Pinot noirs—I’ll grab those bottles first. I don’t want any more dodgy corks ruining my next New Years’s Eve celebration!

photo credit "STELVIN+, Pechiney-Alcan

_________
*Yes, I realize wine service includes the expertise of the sommelier, the good glasses, and storing the wine, and monitoring the table to keep glasses full, and so forth. I have no problem compensating a restaurant for that . . . but I do balk at paying merely for what is essentially a quality control test.

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Frequently
Asked Questions
about Screwcaps

Can I store my bottles on their side?
Yes. Upright, on its side or with the neck facing downwards, the bottle can be stored and transported in all positions.

Does the wine come into contact with the aluminum in the screwcap?
No, the liner is in contact, and is totally neutral.

What are the advantages of the screwcap closure?
The capsule can conserve the qualities, bouquet and the fragrances of the wine thanks to perfect water tightness, controlled gas permeability and, above all, an absence of TCA.
Moreover, the practicality of the bottle is improved by easy opening and resealing; You can also transport and store your bottle in any position.

What is TCA?
Trichloroanisole (TCA) is the natural compound that at higher levels can impart “musty” flavors and aromas to wines, other beverages and foods. Wines that contain TCA at a detectable level are described as either being ‘corked' or having “corkiness.”

Cork is a major source of TCA in bottled wine, although experts indicate that TCA in wine may be derived from sources other than cork, such as from barrels or other sources of wood.

TCA is the common abbreviation for the chemical compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, the first identified and thought to be a primary cause of cork taint. Other chloroanisole contaminants of wine may include 2,3,4,6-tetrachloroanisole (TeCA) and pentachlo-
roanisole (PCA). Scientists in Bordeaux, France, using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, have recently isolated another compound, 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA), that similarly ruins wine aromas.

Regardless of the source or chemical identity, Cork Taint imparts a very unpleasant smell that, depending upon its severity, tends to dominate all other aroma characteristics of any wine it contaminates. The Australian Wine Research Institute conducted experiments in early 2003, that demonstrated even a very low level of contamination, as little as one or two nanograms per litre, suppresses positive fruit aroma character in wine by as much as 50%.

As with all aromas, individuals vary in their threshold ability to detect the presence and strength of Cork Taint, as well as their tolerance for it; experience can increase sensitivity. The human threshold for detection is generally considered to be above 5 nanograms per litre.

Damage to the wine industry annually from Cork Taint is estimated to be $10billion worldwide. A reliable process has been developed to detect and remove TCA from wine before it is bottled.

While TCA can be detected in corks, however, there is of yet no proven method to remove it from this source. This presents both a complex challenge to wine science and mutual frustrations to the wine and cork industries. Experiments are ongoing to prevent or purge TCA from corks, using alternative chemical treatments, steam, gas emersion, microwaving, etc.

What is Cork Taint?
by Jim LaMar

Cork taint can most accurately be described as "moldy" or "musty" or "earthy" or sometimes "medicinal" smell that masks or dominates the fruit aroma of wine and reduces the overall wine quality. The source may be one or more particular chemical compounds formed by a reaction between molds and chemicals.

Infected wines are said to be "corked" or "corky" and the contaminant often referred to as "cork taint", although there are many other possible sources besides corks for its presence in wine.

Molds may be originally present in raw cork bark or in wood used for barrels or other winery equipment or facilities, or can infect cork or wood in storage. Ironically, the chemicals which react with the molds are introduced by methods and equipment used for keeping the production environment sterile and safe.

One culprit is chlorine bleach used in cork processing and also as a routine disinfectant in wineries. Another is atmospheric pollution by off-gassing from plastic equipment, from treatments such as flame-retardants, or simply from old wooden buildings that have absorbed these pollutants over time.