The Auswine Forum

michel wrote:

Rob wrote:why don't we seal wine in glass bottle with no opening?

If technically possible this sounds and awesome idea and I have heard JohnP mention the same concept.

regards
michel

Is it really that good an idea? I think JohnP said it best, we cannot definitively prove what it is that causes wine to age in the manner we want it to. Is it the air inside the bottle reacting with the wine, or is it something to do with the cork, or minute amounts of air being let in by the cork, or something else again. A perfect seal may just give you a perfect wine 10 years down the track, but perfect in the sense it doesn't taste any different to the day it was bottled, not what we want.

Personally I am hedging my bets each way. I would love for ROTE to prove itself over the years because of the problems it should solve, but I am not jumping in with both feet because it is an unknown quantity as far as ageing is concerned. No one can yet provide details of any large scale, well controlled experiment that proves anything in this regard, somewhat surprising I think considering the size of the industry and the controversy surrounding cork.

PaulSheldon wrote:
A perfect seal may just give you a perfect wine 10 years down the track, but perfect in the sense it doesn't taste any different to the day it was bottled, not what we want.

Paul, with all due respect, this is nonsense. If you are making this assertion, I can only assume that you have never consumed wine bottled under stelvin with any bottle age. As anyone who as at least made the effort to do so would confirm, wine bottled under stelvin DOES age. It MOST DEFINITELY DOES taste different from the day it was bottled.

Matthew

Anthony wrote:First of all, sorry to assume that you were pro-cork. Didn't have time to read all the threads and just read the Peel Estate one.

Well Anthony, If you can find the time to read all the threads on this topic you will find the answers. You can't be bothered to read and I can't be bothered to answer the same questions yet again.

Fair enough mate.

Cool. Have a great day.

anthony

MatthewW wrote:
Paul, with all due respect, this is nonsense. If you are making this assertion, I can only assume that you have never consumed wine bottled under stelvin with any bottle age. As anyone who as at least made the effort to do so would confirm, wine bottled under stelvin DOES age. It MOST DEFINITELY DOES taste different from the day it was bottled.

Matthew

Matthew, I wasn't making the assertion, more raising the question. The fact is I don't know, being reasonably new to wine (last couple of years only) and never having had a bottle with a Stelvin seal that has any decent age on it (by this I mean 5+ years, not just a couple). However, I have to say your assertion that this is nonsense goes against what a lot of other have been asking that know a hell of a lot more about wine than I do. If winemakers and other industry experts are questioning the ability of wines to age properly under Stelvin how is it that you are so convinced they will? Is this based on reading the opinions of others or your own experience with aged wines under Stelvin? I don't have that experience so although I do have a number of wines under Stelvin in my cellar, they will be staying there for a few more years, so for now I can only go on the opinions/questions posed by others.

michel wrote:

Rob wrote:why don't we seal wine in glass bottle with no opening?

If technically possible this sounds and awesome idea and I have heard JohnP mention the same concept .

regards
michel

It is interesting to note that a technical note by Capone and Sefton (Tech. Review 144, June 2003) titled "Flavour 'scalping' by wine bottle closures" actually used all-glass, sealed ampoules for the control samples- probably not viable commercially.

There was also a wine placed in an all metal container in the 70's (aluminium??) which would even overcome the issues with excessive light on wine, and would obviously seal better than stelvin. Sounds like a great idea to me, lets go all the way - NOT.

John