The Auswine Forum

I'm posting this to follow on a previous thread which appears to have disappeared for the time being.Sorry if I have posted out of order.

At Xmas I opened a Richmond Grove Barossa Riesling 1998 - and came across the same features as described in previous posts. Don't get me wrong I am a huge fan of Vickery reislings -but in this instance I think the closure made the difference. I previously drank many of these wines under cork and got the impression they were drinking beautifully now, apricots,lemon,honey,no trace of kero - very very nice.
The two screwcap versions I have tried have disappointed. First time I put it down to the wine aging more slowly under screwcap and to wait a few years longer, as all I got was a "dumb phase" taste.
Second time at Xmas about 6 mths later I was more disappointed as this time I got a rubbery, flat type flavour. Could still be in a "dumb phase", I a few more put down so I'm happy to try in a few years time- however this is Barossa not Watervale and I had the impression Barossa riesling develops faster. Maybe the wine is past it anyway - any views out there on this particular wine ?
Recently I tried a Margaret River screwcapped chardonnay 2002, which gave the same type of features,rubbery,flat,nothing there...
I hope this is not a characteristic linked to screwcaps,I don't like it and it bothers me as I have a lot of my rieslings in storage under screwcap.

You MUST be mistaken, according to the mindless zealots on here, the screwcap is cut from God's own cloth.

Anonymous wrote:Second time at Xmas about 6 mths later I was more disappointed as this time I got a rubbery, flat type flavour.

Anonymous wrote:You MUST be mistaken, according to the mindless zealots on here, the screwcap is cut from God's own cloth.

Sure you have the right forum here?

I've had a couple of reds under screwcap with unpleasant reductive aromas, but it won't stop me buying reds under stelvin, the proportion with problems seems to be a lot less than cork.

Guest of 11 Jan 8.35pm,

I think you're seeing an issue that is now being recognised with regard to screwcaps, that wines bottled under them can show some rubbery, sulphury, reductive characters. This can occur if the level of sulphur addition at bottling isn't managed well, and I've found this on occasion too. To be fair, I've also found it in wine under cork: the Caledonia Australis Chardonnay (2000 I think) was a shocker for this. There are others who post here and on other Australian boards who understand this issue way better than me, perhaps they will respond in more detail.

So in a nutshell, its not the screwcap itself causing the problem, but a closely related winemaking issue.

There is a thread on another Australian forum discussing some other potential issues that arise in winemaking, and I'd speculate these have only been identified as a result of a move to screwcap, i.e. where the variation often attributed to cork has been eliminated.

Guest of 11 Jan 11.14pm,

Whatever.

quite right , wrong forum , apologies