Early adopters - Screwcap in Oz

[kaos]

Hi All

I was at a garage sale on the weekend and bought some bottles of wine. One was a B Seppelt & Sons Riesling (on the cap) with a lions club label from the caravan convention in Warracknabeal in Oct 1983. So I'm guessing the wine was a 1981 or 82 vintage (vintage not on the label). It was under screwcap. When did wineries first use screwcaps commercially? I would have thought this was about as early as it would have been.

NB - the wine was as expected - not much chop (I'm guessing it had been somewhere warm and sunny for many years), but for $2 a throw I couldn't but try a couple of curios....

[jeff]

Widespread commercial use was probably when many Clare winemakers released their 2000 rieslings under screw cap.
Richmond Grove did some rieslings under screw cap in the late 90s My last bottle of their '99 Watervale riesling was superb just a few months ago.
I recall being given a screw capped (as a secret santa) "Barossa Crouchon White Burgundy". Vintage about 1978. An interesting curio. That would have about 2005. The not so secret santa later told me that it came direct from the winery, the name of which escapes me. To my surprise the wine was quite sound, and good (not great) drinking.
Part of the reason I'm a fan of screw caps.
Cheers
Jeff

[Luke W]

What about Ben Ean in the 60's?

[phillisc]

Jeff, good to hear re the '99 RG...have a six pack somewhere.
Pewsey Vale/Yalumba were doing Riesling trials with screw-caps and I believe '79 was the first vintage.
Also Wirra Wirra were doing something too.

Have a laugh managing a bottle shop for 3 years in the 80s, of all the Angove's paddle wheel flagons and Chateau Reynella claret under screw cap...idea of protecting the wine was right, just that the contents were rubbish.

Cheers
Craig

[Waiters Friend]

Jeff, good to hear re the '99 RG...have a six pack somewhere.
Pewsey Vale/Yalumba were doing Riesling trials with screw-caps and I believe '79 was the first vintage.
Also Wirra Wirra were doing something too.

Have a laugh managing a bottle shop for 3 years in the 80s, of all the Angove's paddle wheel flagons and Chateau Reynella claret under screw cap...idea of protecting the wine was right, just that the contents were rubbish.

Cheers
Craig

I still have the empty bottle of a 1979 Pewsey Vale Riesling, consumed in 2000. A memorable wine, and possibly because it was under screwcap.

[dingozegan]

Stelvin/ROTE screwcap was introduced into the Australian wine industry (on a commercial scale) in the 70's. There was a dip in usage in the 80's (though many wineries were using it then) and was far more widespread by the 2000's.

[The Hunter]

Recall a tasting I attended with a small group where we tried side by side the ‘74 and ‘75 Leo Buring’s under both cork and screw all.

[The Hunter]

Oop’s should have said screw CAP !!

[pokolbinguy]

Plenty of use in the late 1960's and plenty in the 1970's before it went off the boil when the screwcap developed a reputation for only being used on cheap stuff.

I remember trying a couple of wines from the late 1970's that were under screw cap followed by a great chardonnay from Wollundry Estate under cork (1982 if memory is right), compared to the screw cap wines, damn if that Chard was under a S/C rather than cork it would have been flipping amazing.

To add to the list, lots and lots of 1970's fortifieds were sealed under screw cap. The collection we have in Dad's cellar are still standing up to the test of time 40-45+ years later.

Pok

[rooman]

I read somewhere that Penfolds have been bottling Grange under screwcap since the 70s and storing it long term to see how reds mature over the long term under screwcap. They are not for general sale but rather part of a long term experiment.

[Mahmoud Ali]

I recall buying some older clearance wines from a stack of boxes at the back of Mount Pleasant's spacious tasting room. I bought a few whites, riesling, gewurztramminer and such from non-Hunter areas, and a couple of bottles of older ports. The ports were ruby ports, not tawny, and had either a vintage or bottling date. In either case they were older, inexpensive, and screwcapped. This would have been in 2001, at a time when most ports were cork sealed, so although I low expectations I couldn't resist the temptation to try something old but seemingly with good provenance from the winery.

Some time later, at a camp ground late one evening, I took a bottle over to the firepit to share with some people we met expecting to open and pour. To my surprise there a cork under the screwcap and I had to go back to the car and retrieve a corkscrew. In fact the port was quite good, appealing in an aged mellow way, and I wished I had bought more.

Naturally I thought it odd at the time but am now wondering if there was some sort bottling error, whereby screwcap bottles ended up on the bottling line and cork stoppered. Later, for the sake of packaging, the bottles had to be screwcapped.

Mahmoud.

[phillisc]

I read somewhere that Penfolds have been bottling Grange under screwcap since the 70s and storing it long term to see how reds mature over the long term under screwcap. They are not for general sale but rather part of a long term experiment.

Yes Mark...same
However, I see them making an appearance much the same way as the Ampoule.

Cheers
craig

[rooman]

I read somewhere that Penfolds have been bottling Grange under screwcap since the 70s and storing it long term to see how reds mature over the long term under screwcap. They are not for general sale but rather part of a long term experiment.

Yes Mark...same
However, I see them making an appearance much the same way as the Ampoule.

Cheers
craig

My recollection from the article was it was part of a controlled experiment to see how over a long term, Grange would mature under screwcap compared to cork. It is also the only long term experiment I have heard of this nature. I would be interested to hear one day how it is going. It would make an interesting article in GWT.

Mark

[Scotty vino]

From an old SMH article.

Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago said the company was testing screw caps on the 2000 Penfolds Grange, which sells for $450 a bottle, and would not decide until it had been cellared for 20 years