Wine closures: To twist or to screw and pull

WHEN FRIENDS come over to our house for dinner with a bottle of screw cap (also called twist cap or screw top) wine, we tend to snicker a bit, especially on the quality and price connotation of the wine, even if we haven’t tried the bottle. Yet, the bottle may actually be a premium one like a Peter Lehmann Stonewell Barossa Shiraz or a Cloudy Bay Te Koko Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc — both priced way over P2,000/bottle. Why is this the common bias? And despite the negative perception of most wine drinkers, why are more and more screw-capped wines sprouting on wine shelves all over the country? Let us analyze how this phenomenon started, and breakdown the three most common types of wine closures we see in the market.
CORK TAINT ISSUE
Cork was the only traditional wine bottle closure for centuries, but in modern times, together with the wine boom, more and more cases of spoiled wines due to “cork taint” have been recorded. “Cork taint” or “corked wine” is caused by trichloroanisole or TCA for short. TCA is a compound that surfaced when the chlorine used in cleaning, bleaching, etc. interacts with molds inherent in the cork. This can either happen in the cork producers’ side because chlorine solution is used to clean the bark of the cork oak, or at the winery. TCA is found in many areas of a winery’s bottling facilities, from drains and tanks to the barrels.
TCA can easily be detected on the nose. When a wine greets you with an unpleasant damped cardboard smell rather than the more typical fruit and complex oak flavors, blame it on TCA. The wine will taste musty, dull, and flat too. This is to be differentiated from oxidized wine due to poor wine storage conditions, where the sulfur smell is very evident, and the wine’s natural color is affected.
There is conflicting data on how much wine damage can be blamed on TCA — and it varies from a low 2% to as high as 15%. Natural cork producers are of course the ones that pegged the percentage of damaged wine caused by TCA at 2%, while wineries from California and Australia that jumped onto the screw cap closure bandwagon, would place it a lot higher, rationalizing, in effect, the switch from cork to screw cap. Whether it be 2% or 15%, that is still between one to almost eight bottles of wines destroyed for every 50 opened. TCA is indeed a serious problem. Less than two decades ago in 2000, a famous Piedmontese winery, Elio Altare filed a case against its cork supplier Gueltig, for ruining the winery’s 1997 vintage of top tier Barolo and Barbera wines. In a lawsuit in Italy, Elio Altare wanted to claim around $650,000 from Gueltig, a German company, for TCA damage in 27,000 of the winery’s estimated 33,000 bottle production. The case would eventually be settled out of court for roughly 80% of the amount.
NATURAL CORK
Cork producers have to rely solely on cork oaks trees from Portugal, Spain, and North Africa. Note that cork oak is the only tree whose bark regenerates after each harvest. A cork oak has to be 25 years old before it can be stripped, then harvested every nine to 10 years. Only those cork oak trees that mature to over 40 years, and are on their third stripping, can have their bark stripped down for cork production. An oak tree’s life can last around 200 years, and it can be stripped up to 17 times in its life span. Scientists believe that the molds that cause TCA are found in live oak trees, and are not easily eradicated, and therefore still exist when the bark is made into wine cork. But cork producers are not ignoring this problem, and are investing in research to find ways to eradicate this pesky problem. Concepts like microwave treatment are being experimented with to ensure TCA won’t surface in natural corks. The world’s largest cork manufacturer, Amorim from Portugal, launched NDTech corks few years back, ND to mean “Non-Detectable.” NDTech uses gas chromatography to screen each natural cork for TCA, and is sold with a guarantee against TCA.
Good corks that cost more come from less than 20% of the bark. The cost can range from a low of 13 US cents per piece for the poorer grade natural oak, to just above a full US dollar for the highest grade. The best quality ones, which are compact and solid, are normally five centimeters to 6.5 centimeters long. These are the corks that go to the finest Chateaux of France, and the best wines made in the world. While, there may still be chances of TCA, the quality of the cork allows longevity for decades of wine cellaring.
SYNTHETIC CORK
If one prefers to open wine with a traditional corkscrew, but is afraid of “cork taint,” then the synthetic cork can be a good alternative.
Synthetic corks are made from mixtures of rubber, plastic, and granulated cork. There are, however, two problems with synthetic corks — one is functional and the other is emotional.
Synthetic corks are often made too tight, and can be quite difficult to remove. And being artificial, synthetic cork can leave a sort of stigma on the wine. It is hard to imagine anyone smelling a synthetic cork upon opening.
Synthetic corks are more acceptable for lower valued and ordinary everyday types of wine. Synthetic cork’s ability to last long is still a big question mark too.
The cost of synthetic cork is a lot cheaper than the real thing, at less than 10 US cents a piece.
SCREW CAP/TWIST CAP
The most effective wine closure by far seems to be the screw cap. It is TCA-free, convenient, easy to open, and functionally, almost flawless. Screw caps can preserve the aromas of wine, the bottles can be stored upright (no need to moisten the cork), and can be resealed in case there is leftover wine — though not for long.
The screw cap as a wine closure is definitely nothing new. Some 50 years ago, screw caps were everywhere in the US, especially on jug wines. But these are the inexpensive, rather rubbishy type of generic wines.
While the Old World wine stalwarts are not so keen on switching from natural cork to screw caps anytime soon, ironically, a giant French company, Pechiney (later incorporated into Alcan Packaging, and now under Amcor), is at the forefront of the screw cap evolution with Stelvin. Stelvin is as synonymous to screw cap as it can get. Not only is Stelvin an aluminum wine screw closure, it also has an inner liner covered by PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride) that is chemically resistant to water, oxygen, and aroma, and has an aesthetically appealing long skirt that can replace regular wine aluminum capsules on the bottle. Stelvin has even developed better innovations over the years. There is the Stelvin Lux, where an insert is added to the cap to conceal the threads of the crown, making for a more elegant look. Quality printing and embossing are even possible with Stelvin.
A more aggressive screw cap producer is the Italian owned Guala Closures. Guala became a huge screw cap closure player during the start of the new millennium and is now the market leader. Guala had a great innovation added to this closure with its Tamper Evident wine screw cap, launched earlier this decade with a patented ROPP (roll on pilfer proof). This closure contains a Tamper Evident band that discourages refilling and counterfeiting.
So screw caps may actually be the most ideal closure, but to me the only issue may actually be the longevity of this closure, especially if prolonged cellaring of over decades or so of the wine takes place. While there is no study to prove its failure when it comes to extended bottle aging, there is, however, also no proof otherwise. After all, unlike natural cork, a screw cap does not have the centuries of actual experience to prove its longevity.
Prices of screw caps are already rivaling those of natural cork, depending on the features and aesthetics of the closure chosen.
Asia, including the Philippines, like most infant wine-drinking cultures, is going to be very biased against the screw caps. The Chinese in particular prefer cork closures even on the cheapest wines sold in supermarkets. Perception of inferiority, and general lack of information on screw cap closures are genuine deterrents. On top of this, there is a sophistication level on wine that includes the ritual of opening the wine with a corkscrew. This is one tradition that will take years, decades, and may be even centuries to correct.
The good thing, however, is that a lot of respectable wineries are now totally into Stelvins and Guala Closures, especially the Australians and New Zealanders. Because of this, many wine consumers are learning to accept screw cap wines by default, rather than by choice when it comes to certain wines.
As for me, I can live with screw caps, in lieu of risking TCA. But frankly, if I were to buy a premium red wine, of say over P2,000/bottle, I would still prefer one with a natural cork closure. The popping or pulling sound of the cork being removed is still much more pleasant to the ears than that of twisting off a screw cap.
 
The author has been a member of the Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux or FIJEV since 2010. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.