Aging Red Wine in Screwcap Bottle

I’ve seen some things on the forum about screwcaps but most of it seems to deal with white wines. I was wondering if there is anything really that would prevent a red wine from aging well in a screwcap bottle? One of the tastiest wines I have had was a 2009 Shiraz from Australia that was a screwcap. I really thought that bottle could go for 5 or more years in the cellar. Any real info on how screwcaps affect long-term aging? Or has it just not been long enough to have any definitive answers?

Recently did a tasting with Jeff Owens. The winemaker at Odette Estate. He has been working for the Plumpjack group for quite some time and has been able to taste some of their earliest efforts with screwcaps in direct comparison with the same bottle sealed with cork.

We talked about this at length because Odette currently bottles half their reserve in cork and the other half with screwcaps, and you get a 50/50 split of whatever you purchase.

His belief was that there was no noticeable degradation in the wine as a result and that in many cases the screwcap wine was a little backwards when compared to the cork bottles. He also said that they hadn’t had any notable issues with their being seal issues with the screwcap.

Mind you, this was based off of 10 year and 15 year old Plumpjack bottlings, so there really doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to talk about wines with 20 and 30 years of age, and the effects the minute amounts of oxygen would have on that wine’s development.

Either way, I am not bothered by it and like the fact that I don’t have to worry about cork issues with those bottles down the road.

In my experience reds under screw cap age like wines undera perfect cork. I have some 2000 Moss Wood Cab Sauv (one of Australia’s finest Cabs) under both closures and have been tracking their evolution. Time to conduct the comparison again.

A few years ago, I met D’Arry Osborne of D’Arenberg and we discussed this because I had just gotten some Shiraz bottled for the Australia market under screw cap when I knew the US bottling was cork. He told me that he had recently tasted some Aussie Shiraz with experimental screw caps that were over 20 years old and that the screw caps were much fresher that their cork counterparts. So I suppose it depends whether you prefer fresh or aged. I think screw cap left bank Bordeaux would require screw caps with appropriate permeability characteristics.

I hope this stays true since I just ordered another bottle of that Shiraz I loved to put in my cellar. I am assuming that no screwcap is completely impermeable and will let in some air. When the term fresher is used, does that mean that the wine will not really mature correctly? or will the integration still happen with the fruit staying alive a little longer.

The vast majority of red wine in Australia is now under screw cap including most of the wines that are 20+ year prospects. On a recent trip to Margaret River, I didn’t taste a single red that wasn’t under screw cap, and many that I tried were at the pointy end of the market and designed for long term aging. You can bet that there have been decades of trials to get to this point, and if the winemakers had any doubts that their wines couldn’t go the distance, this wouldn’t be happening.

Here’s a blog post from Harvey Steiman of Wine Spectator talking about a vertical tasting of Plumpjack Reserved cabs under both screwcap and cork:

Now granted, this is only 10 years out, but it does show some interesting things.

This ‘debate’ will continue to linger on and on. Those who really do not feel wines can age well under screwcap, including reds, will continue to say ‘show me the research’. Meanwhile, they’ll continue to open older reds that are sometimes corked or perhaps oxidized prematurely because of their closure of choice.

There is no ideal closure, but let’s get one thing straight - there is nothing that shows that reds CANNOT age well under screwcap; and we know that they DO develop under screwcap, oftentimes a bit slower than under natural cork but not necessarily, depending upon the liner used.

Cheers . . .

Why?

Just had a '07 and an '08 Cali Syrah with screw caps and they were awesome. Tasted like they could go years yet.

Can you be a little more specific with your question please?

I hope this stays true since I just ordered another bottle of that Shiraz I loved to put in my cellar. I am assuming that no screwcap is completely impermeable and will let in some air. When the term fresher is used, does that mean that the wine will not really mature correctly? or will the integration still happen with the fruit staying alive a little longer.

“Mature correctly” is the issue. The wine will mature. “Fresher” just means that the wine is more youthful than expected and the aging curve is probably longer.

Why?

You can build a screwcap to spec. In other words, you can specify the amount of permeability you want, if any. A perfect cork does not allow air exchange, although one of those wine superstitions suggests it does.

Cork is used because back in the late 1600s, they didn’t have a material that you could compress and that would then expand. Cork can be compressed, put into a bottle, and it will expand to fill the bottleneck. Remember - there were no polymers, etc.

Once they figured out how to make bottles with a standard size neck, so they didn’t need to make each stopper individually, they were stuck. There was no mass-production in those days as we understand it today, and there was also nothing else that could be used to seal the bottle. You could get a sheet of cork bark, punch out a whole slew of corks, and they would each make a pretty good fit.

And the tolerances were pretty loose. Today you can build things to tolerances that were unimaginable even sixty years ago, much less a few centuries ago.

Because cork is a natural product that is found, not created, it is impossible to predict what will happen with any individual cork. Some will be perfect seals, others not so perfect, and others not even close. So wine making was developed to deal with the average cork - sulfur levels take into account the fact that there might be some permeability. When they started using screw caps, they sulfured as if for imperfect corks and it turned out to be too much sulfur in some cases. That’s easily addressed.

Today there’s really no reason to continue using cork, other than tradition. If you want permeability, spec out what you want and you can develop the closure.

Some people find romance in corks for who knows what reason. In my case, last week on Thursday’s wine the cork broke and on Sunday’s wine the bottle was ruined because of TCA - thank you cork. The wines were 20 and 10 years old respectively.

So why do people still use cork today? I believe it’s so that in 10 and 20 and 30 and 40 years they and their customers can also have the pleasure of enjoying damaged wine. Wine just wouldn’t be the same if you could not be certain that some percentage of your bottles would be destroyed. Hell - who would even like wine under those circumstances?

Remember, the science that gave us cork is the same science that prescribed bleeding for certain illnesses, and that considered alchemy and astrology legit areas of study.

I would happily buy ageworthy reds under screwcap. I would especially buy ageworthy whites, particularly Burgs, under screwcap since oxidation is their bane.

Back to the reds, I think it’s increasingly doubtful that slow air exchange through the cork is the key to reds aging and maturing. And in any event, screwcaps can be designed to allow levels of air exchange.

Pretty much what Greg and Chris and others said: I’d have no qualms buying top quality wine of either color under screwcap. For me, corks are about as romantic as those big-ass bottles some producers like; I get zero pleasure using a corkscrew – I don’t hate it but it’s just a means to an end, and if a competent someone else uncorked all my wines for me I’d be perfectly happy. Just as I’d probably be perfectly happy if all my wines were under screwcap.

Back to the OP, there have been oodles of studies proving the effectiveness of the screwcap for long term ageing. Go ahead and buy with confidence.

The problem with screwcaps is simply one of image. They are not sexy and they look cheap.

Not sexy? Hello, they’re called SCREWcaps aren’t they?!? [wink.gif]

Touché.

Imagine if wine had always been under screwcap, then someone came along today and proposed using corks instead.

It’s just inertia at this point. But as long as premium producers won’t use screwcaps, average consumers won’t realize that they aren’t inconsistent with premium wines, and a substantial portion of wine enthusiasts will still think that there isn’t enough evidence that reds will develop the right way under screwcaps.

All that needs to happen is for it to happen at this point. We just need a few more premium producers to be willing to do it, even if just for a portion of their better bottlings.

Yep . . .

But instead, what tends to happen is that a ‘premium’ producer uses screw caps for their whites or their rose, proclaiming that it’s the ‘perfect closure for wines meant not to age too long’, and that false perception simply strengthens . . .

Cheers.

The problem with screw caps is that they have sharp edges and if you leave them on the floor THEN YOUR CAT AND CHILDREN CAN STEP ON THEM AND CUT THEMSELVES.

Oh, come on. The solution to your ‘problem’ is to not leave them on the floor, not to refuse to use a superior closure.

The problem with corks is that if you leave them on the floor, you could step on it and roll your ankle or break your leg.