Every time I read something like this I cringe. I was in the process of swearing off purchasing and wines under regular cork, then for a little while things started to get a bit better. Now I realize it was just a crazy hope because the cork taint rate is back in full force with what I have been drinking. Looks like time to wean my purchasing off of cork yet again.
Yeah this,
Seriously. We have had many long years of experience, and I can easily say it is the best all around solution.
Diam has long term storage issues that I am not sure they are anywhere near solving yet.
If I could only chose one method of closure for all varieties and types of wines, it would be screwcap without hesitation all day, everyday…
Ardea Seal.
At the Society of Wine Educators meeting recently, I had 5 corked glasses of wine that had to be re-poured for tastings. That was out of about 100 glasses of wine so about 5%. My own experience has been about the same 5-7%.
+1
I don’t think there’s anything worthwhile about natural cork. It’s beyond risk; it’s a very real and significant failure rate. That in the face of more and more evidence that wines age just fine under screwcap. I have no idea why something “intangible” and apparently indescribable would justify lots of bad bottles, bad consumer experiences, and wasted resources.
There’s no way I would bottle anything intended for aging under Diam when it’s glued together and hasn’t been around for long, especially with what’s been said in this thread. Many smart winemakers are using it, but I can’t figure out why other than in France where it’s too difficult to sell high end wine under screwcap. Out of necessity, Australia and New Zealand have conducted countless experiments with alternative closures. The only people/producers I’ve known to have problems with screwcaps have had what I consider SO2 management problems, not closure problems. Maybe there are issues I haven’t heard about.
As most of you know, I am a big fan of screwcaps and have used them exclusively on my wines since I began in 2006. I chose to do so for a couple of reasons:
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Cork taint is a real problem, and though it may be ‘improving’, at the same time, consumers are less educated about it than they were 10 years ago. Therefore, how do we know what the true rates are?
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Consumers do not understand cork taint - whether it be full blown or just slight. Therefore, if a wine is just slightly corked, they will find the wine ‘lacking’ and it’s not the stinking wine that’s causing it - it’s the closure . . . but I can’t be there to explain this.
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One of the best things about cork is one of its worst traits - it’s all natural. That means that no two corks are alike with regards to the make-up of their cells, and therefore air pockets. That is why there is so much variance in trans ox rates with cork - and one of the reasons ‘bottle variation’, a term I’m not a fan of, exists . . .
I am not a cork hater at all. I dig the closure when it is spot on - and I have found it to be so often enough. That said, as a producer who has to be able to stand behind my wines, I cannot use the closure.
As far as DIAM’s go, the jury is still out. They have developed ‘longer life’ versions that are ‘guaranteed’ for 15 or 30 years - I’m waiting for a winery to ‘test’ this guarantee by letting em know the wine aged too quickly 
A couple of things that worry me about the DIAM closure - long term prognosis on the glue used to bind the particles and variability in trans ox due to different size cork particles.
I know of producers who have been strong supporters of screw cap only to bottle part of their production now in DIAM - just because of perception. That sucks . . .
I also know that Neil Collins, winemaker for Tablas and owner of Lone Madrone, has decided to go all screwcap after having tasted some of my older reds under the closure.
Nothing is perfect - but I’m happy to stand behind my choice.
Cheers.
I’m glad I’m not very TCA sensitive, but I still get hit with it a couple bottles a year.
I don’t anticipate any seismic changes in Old World wines being bottled with modern closures, but I’ll be looking forward to supporting the producers who choose to do so.
I tend to think of it this way: what if we’d been using a reproducible, predictable closure (e.g. Stelvin) for centuries, then somebody came along and said, “Hey, here’s a great idea…lets just stick a piece of a tree in there! Won’t that be better?”
Curious as to whether these were domestic wines or imports?
Cheers
Cork isn’t perfect but glass can break and we’re not abandoning that, right?
The disparaging of cork as tree bark or a “piece of a tree” makes me wonder, aren’t barrels just pieces of a tree too? Grapes essentially come for little trees too. Give the tree hate a rest!
Screw caps have issues. Every closure has issues it seems. I’ve been waiting for pushback on Diam and here we go.
I’m sticking with natural cork and believe it’s the best solution for sealing a bottle that we have, all things considered. Not perfect but still the best.
Vincent,
Well stated - and good to know what your beliefs are and that you are standing behind them.
Quick question - if you do end up with a corked wine, what’s your recourse with the cork producer? You are willing to stick with the closure - but are they willing to ‘back you’ by refunding you the ‘cost’ of putting that wine into bottle?
Honest question . . .
Cheers
I’m the guy that Larry has mentioned in multiple posts in the last year. I wouldn’t know cork taint if it hit me in the face. (Based on the frequency of cork taint that is reported on these boards, I guess I should replace the word “if” with “when” in the previous sentence.) So, I am OK with cork. However, talk about user hostile. Taking that into account, I love screw caps.
Todd, I’m not trying to be argumentative or confrontational, just trying to better understand a winemaker’s perspective. Is your preference purely based on the intangibles? Or are there wine quality factors you have observed or other practical considerations underlying your preferences as well?
How about a screwcap that has a cork-like product going down into the bottle? That way I actually feel like I’m opening wine and not a bottle of Pelligrino?
I’ve never had an experience with an aged wine in a screw cap. So for those that have… do they evolve or just keep?
They evolve. I have screw capped wines back to 2002 in my cellar (drank my last 2001). I have probably 400-500 capped wines, with lots from 2003 to current vintages.
Yes, wines evolve under screwcap (and glass stopper). It’s taken a while for enough examples to exist, but they are there now. Guess what - the wines evolve, though more slowly. A given wine bottled under both cork and screwcap exhibits fresher fruit and stays better longer after opening under the screwcap. Everyone I know that has tested cork versus screwcap side-by-side comes to the same conclusion: screwcaps perform better. The cork producers, among their various obfuscations, tried to tell us that one can’t properly age wine without cork. We now know that is a lie.
To extend Nate Simon’s scenario: can you imagine a salesman walking into your winery, trying to introduce the use of cork to seal wines in bottle for the first time? He could tell you that, like snowflakes, all corks are unique! You’d toss him out in a second. Most of us want consistency, predictability in our packaging.
Cork was appropriate technology long ago. The alternatives were rags or floating oil or worse. As my friend Norm asks (facetiously), having found this admittedly better technology (for its time), why did they stop looking for something better?
We use both screwcaps and glass stoppers in our wines. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to open every bottle with the complete confidence that it will be the wine I put in the bottle and that it will be the same as the previous bottle I opened. (Except, of course, for our older wines (we’re 10 years in) where those lovely changes do occur that we so enjoy in aged wine).
We are so finished with cork and it’s look alike cousins. What other industry would put up with such an appalling failure rate? What would you think if the packaging ruined other products you bought? You’d think the manufacturers were nuts!
Peter Rosback
Sineann (ITB)
I’ve never had an experience with an aged wine in a screw cap. So for those that have… do they evolve or just keep?
1979 Pewsey Vale Riesling under screwcap;
Beautiful palate, plenty of complexity - developed with all the aged character of a perfectly cellared Australian Riesling drinking at its peak.
Ardea Seal
It is Cork 2.0.
Inert. Works like a cork. No TCA. You can set the oxygen ingress to be exactly like a cork and tweak that to what you want…a little more a little less…etc… Consistent.
When you see one you’ll think, yeah, this is an expensive high tech cork.
Ponsot uses it on his wines.
The only remaining argument people might have to use cork is if you believe the flavor of the cork itself is what you’re looking for in a wine…but otherwise, Ardea is better in every single way and yet, the same in the ways people feel cork matters…