Long term storage of wine under screwcaps

[Bob H.]

It seems to me that several years ago I heard of a program in Aus of aging wines under screw cap. Has there been anything published about any results to date? It would be very interesting to know just how a good red will fare for 20 or more years without the fear of TCA. Also, I am getting to an age that I may not want to age many more wines that long, but it would still be good information to have. I do have wines with 20 or more years on them, but they are under cork, and it really pi**es me off to open a bottle that I have stored for 15-20 years and smell the TCA even before I pour a glass. Of course it pi**es me off to smell it after I have poured a glass too.

[Bob H.]

bump

[Davo]

It seems to me that several years ago I heard of a program in Aus of aging wines under screw cap. Has there been anything published about any results to date? It would be very interesting to know just how a good red will fare for 20 or more years without the fear of TCA. Also, I am getting to an age that I may not want to age many more wines that long, but it would still be good information to have. I do have wines with 20 or more years on them, but they are under cork, and it really pi**es me off to open a bottle that I have stored for 15-20 years and smell the TCA even before I pour a glass. Of course it pi**es me off to smell it after I have poured a glass too.

To my knowledge - no.

AFAIK the trials have been done by individual wineries, the earliest starting in the 70's, and the results available to the public are hearsay and not scientific publications.

[n4sir]

It seems to me that several years ago I heard of a program in Aus of aging wines under screw cap. Has there been anything published about any results to date? It would be very interesting to know just how a good red will fare for 20 or more years without the fear of TCA. Also, I am getting to an age that I may not want to age many more wines that long, but it would still be good information to have. I do have wines with 20 or more years on them, but they are under cork, and it really pi**es me off to open a bottle that I have stored for 15-20 years and smell the TCA even before I pour a glass. Of course it pi**es me off to smell it after I have poured a glass too.

To my knowledge - no.

AFAIK the trials have been done by individual wineries, the earliest starting in the 70's, and the results available to the public are hearsay and not scientific publications.

The longest ongoing experiment with a red I'm aware of is the 1996 Penfolds Bin 389, although no results have been made public. I heard from a source that at the 2007 Rewards of Patience tasting they presented (blind) bottles under both cork & screwcap to the panel of winemakers & experts (including James Halliday, Huon Hooke & Campbell Mattinson) and they couldn't tell the difference (apart from the bottles ruined by dud corks). Again though, this is hearsay.

Cheers,
Ian

[Bob H.]

The longest ongoing experiment with a red I'm aware of is the 1996 Penfolds Bin 389, although no results have been made public. I heard from a source that at the 2007 Rewards of Patience tasting they presented (blind) bottles under both cork & screwcap to the panel of winemakers & experts (including James Halliday, Huon Hooke & Campbell Mattinson) and they couldn't tell the difference (apart from the bottles ruined by dud corks). Again though, this is hearsay. Cheers, Ian

Thanks for the answer(s) Davo and Ian. The answers though begs the question of why? Why have not one winery published their findings? I would think that after 10 or more years there would be some idea of what the final outcome would be, especially regarding stoppering red wine with a screw closure. The Penfolds experiment is probably the one I had in mind when I started this thread. The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) has some papers on this subject, and if I ever find the time I will try to read through them. Anyone interested in checking them out can find the AWRI here: http://www.awri.com.au/ And here: http://www.awri.com.au/search/?zoom_que ... es&x=0&y=0

Thanks again for your replies.

[malliemcg]

Found an interesting article about it - which suggests to view cork and screwcapped wines as separate wines http://www.winereviewonline.com/tyson_s ... w_caps.cfm

More stuff http://www.winepress.com.au/sfgsampl.pdf (google search terms "Dr. Bryce Rankine +cork")