Screw caps are used with great effect on everyday wines made for early consumption as well as cellar-worthy fine wines.Simon Wilson/The Globe and Mail
It’s been more than 20 years since wineries around the world stopped using corks to seal their bottles due to quality concerns, but there’s still a stigma attached to non-traditional closures. Some consumers view screw caps as inferior to natural cork, despite being more consistent, easier to open and free from taint.
The use of natural corks increases the risk of contamination from musty aromas and flavours (a fault commonly known as “corked wine.”) The variable quality of cork in the early 2000s inspired producers in Australia, New Zealand and Canada to embrace cork alternatives.
Winemakers in South Australia’s Clare Valley decided en masse to move to screw cap closures with the 2000 vintage. Today, the majority of wines made in Australia and New Zealand are sealed with a twist off closure. Screw caps are used with great effect on every day wines made for early consumption as well as cellar-worthy fine wines.
Since wine is such a traditional product, wineries in other parts of the world continue to use cork stoppers. Tree bark is used to seal fine wines made around the world, which suggests it is the highest quality stopper. But top quality corks come at a price.
The cork industry has taken steps to produce taint-free closures, upgrading harvesting and cleaning methods and introducing innovative agglomerated corks fashioned from granules and polymers to offer a natural in-neck closure with less risk of musty contamination. Leading producers, DIAM and Amorim, sell to many of the world’s best estates in France, Italy and the United States.
Wineries select don’t arbitrarily decide how to package their wines. Whichever closure they use is an intentional decision. The closure used doesn’t determine the quality of the wine, that depends on the liquid inside the bottle.
Wines bottled with screw caps aren’t inferior. They are often used to keep whites, rosés and reds fresh and flavourful. Their lower costs per unit compared to cork products help to keep prices down on inexpensive bottles. If you see a wine that appeals to you with a twist off cap, don’t discriminate. The winemaker selected it as the best way to ensure the wine reaches your glass tasting the way it was intended.