Could you guys tell me whether you prefer screw caps, cork or synthetic and for what reason?
I've heard screw caps are getting more and more popular in Australia, which is not the case in France yet
Do you think screw caps for aging bottles could do the same good job as traditional cork?
Screw caps, cork or synthetic ones?
-
neweclipse
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:54 am
- Location: Strasbourg, France
- Contact:
Screw caps, cork or synthetic ones?
The arrogant frog 
A big topic that has probably been canvassed to death on the Australian wine forums, do a search here and on the other forum and you will find a lot of (sometimes conflicting) opinions.
In Australia, the move to screwcaps for white wines is almost a fait accomplit. At the recent National Wine Show in Canberra the classes of young whites were almost exclusively sealed with screwcaps. Interestingly in two classes of 30-40 whites there were three wines sealed with cork; in each class there was one of the three suffering from cork taint. Despite that I think one of the wines sealed with cork went on to win a trophy. Synthetic corks are only used on cheaper wines.
For reds the picture is much less clear and the jury is probably still out on the suitability of screwcaps for the bigger styles of cellaring reds in particular. Some winemakers occasionaly seem to struggle in preparing their wines for screwcap bottling and some nasty examples of reductive characters are to be found (in both reds and whites). A number of wineries are hedging their bets with Diam corks and I've yet to encounter a wine sealed with diam that was tainted or tasted corky.
For me, for cellaring reds I prefer screwcap or Diam corks, and if offered a choice between natural cork and screwcap I will generally opt for the screwcapped version. I just hate the all to common occurrence of selecting a 10 year old red from the cellar and finding it was ruined as soon as that chunk of tree bark was inserted. Although many wineries will replace these sort of wines with current vintage of the same label, it's frustrating, time-consuming and sometimes has an unsatisfactory outcome. If reds age more slowly under screwcap, fine: I'm happy to open a 10 yo red that is still a little youthful rather than one that may be fully mature but CORKED!
In Australia, the move to screwcaps for white wines is almost a fait accomplit. At the recent National Wine Show in Canberra the classes of young whites were almost exclusively sealed with screwcaps. Interestingly in two classes of 30-40 whites there were three wines sealed with cork; in each class there was one of the three suffering from cork taint. Despite that I think one of the wines sealed with cork went on to win a trophy. Synthetic corks are only used on cheaper wines.
For reds the picture is much less clear and the jury is probably still out on the suitability of screwcaps for the bigger styles of cellaring reds in particular. Some winemakers occasionaly seem to struggle in preparing their wines for screwcap bottling and some nasty examples of reductive characters are to be found (in both reds and whites). A number of wineries are hedging their bets with Diam corks and I've yet to encounter a wine sealed with diam that was tainted or tasted corky.
For me, for cellaring reds I prefer screwcap or Diam corks, and if offered a choice between natural cork and screwcap I will generally opt for the screwcapped version. I just hate the all to common occurrence of selecting a 10 year old red from the cellar and finding it was ruined as soon as that chunk of tree bark was inserted. Although many wineries will replace these sort of wines with current vintage of the same label, it's frustrating, time-consuming and sometimes has an unsatisfactory outcome. If reds age more slowly under screwcap, fine: I'm happy to open a 10 yo red that is still a little youthful rather than one that may be fully mature but CORKED!
Cheers
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
-
winetastic
- Posts: 889
- Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:51 pm
- Location: Sydney