Wine makers from around Australia and New Zealand together Kennards wine customers who store their wines at a Kennards Wine Centre convey that there are three ways to close a bottle of wine: natural cork, synthetic cork & screw caps.
Common Seal Methods:
Cork has a century old tradition and has a proven history track record for sealing wine bottles. Also, nostalgia of the cork forms part of the wine experience. However, cork manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to locate supplies of good quality cork as a wine bottle seal to meet current demand.
A screw cap is a metal cap that screws onto threads on the neck of a bottle, generally with a metal shirt down the bottle neck to resemble a traditional wine cap. A layer of plastic (often PVDC – polyvinylidene chloride), cork, rubber or other soft material is used to make a seal known as wadding, with the mouth of the bottle.
Alternatives such as synthetic cork as a bottle seal which is in widespread use around the World may have issues with ‘plastic’ taint and in some instances wine consumers find them difficult to remove.
Screw Cap Advantages:
The introduction of the screw cap made wine lovers realise that cork isn’t a neutral closure at all but can give their wine a cork taste. Using screw caps eliminates the threat of cork taint & similar mould flavours that can contaminate wine bottles with using other closures such as cork. This ‘dependable’ way of cellaring wine in bottles with screw caps also eliminates premature wine oxidation (rapid ageing, discolouration, loss of fruit flavours). Premium wines destined for a long-term maturation enjoy the added advantage of reduced bottle variation with screw capos enabling each bottle to mature and develop to it’s true character uniformly and naturally as intended by the winemaker.
Screw caps are seen as ‘user’ friendly.
- There are no corkscrews to manipulate
- No crumbly corks to extract from a bottle
- Caps enable the bottle to be resealed for next day use
- Easy twist action of the whole screw cap to break the seal
- Wine in bottles may be stored in a Kennards wine unit equally well standing up or laying down
Screw Cap Disadvantages:
The romance of opening a bottle of wine using a ‘cork screw’ is lost with the screw cap diminishing the ‘drama’ of bottle opening. Also, screw caps have been associated with cheap wines in the past. During transportation if bottles with screw caps were knocked there is the possibility that the seal could be broken and spoiling the whole delivery.
Summary:
There is no official view on the performance of the screw cap from wine connoisseurs or Kennards Wine Centre’s, it is purely up to the market (& wine producers) to decide how and what type of seal they choose when buying wine.
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Tags: Kennards, Kennards wine, Kennards Wine Centre, Kennards wine customers