My first vintage was 2006 and I still have some of my 2006 Grenache Blanc in case anyone wants to try this. In addition, I’ve held back a few of my 2007 reds - my 2007 Larner Syrah and 2007 Thompson Syrah. More than happy to make these available 
Well, this is a far-reaching explanation, but one that does make sense to me. I guess I can say I understand why some people are averse the change to screwcaps, even though I strongly disagree with their view. No one is motivated by logic all of the time, and many people rarely are, or at least are not on this issue. Still, I’m a little frustrated every time I see something like “romance” as a reason to stick with corks, and every time someone in the business furthers the myth that screwcaps are only good for wines that aren’t intended to age. Even though I can understand the former, the latter makes absolutely no sense to me.
I beg every producer to screw all my wines! Stop the cork madness!
If I would know at all.
I´m talking about decades (25, 30, 40+ years).
My experience is only with reds under screwcaps for 8, 9, 10 years … mostly Aussies, some Austrians.
My feeling is that they have hardly “aged” at all - rarely developed any tertiaery elements of a properly aged red wine … and that they are fresher, fruitier, youthfuller, more primary than similar wines with corks.
I have no idea when (and if) a French wine, one that I usually know well, will age into something I like and I´m longing for.
![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
But I also had 2 bts. that were totally off - because (presumambly) the cap wasn´t tight … so IF a screwcap fails, it fails totally and (most probably) very quickly.
I have no problem with screwcaps for wine that is meant to be drunk young, many Austrian whites are bottled so.
But for my “long-agres” (French reds from Bx, Bg, Rh …) I don´t want to take the risk (to open a bottle after 20 years … and it is tasting like 5 y old)
I’m with Gerhard on this issue. Whites, yes; reds, no (well, Bojo perhaps ok). At 50, I’ll stick with what I know. I also like the so-called romance of cork. Plus, what the heck would I do with all my antique corkscrews?! I’ll willingly accept the failure rate, which gracefully has been rather low for me. The failure/success and predictability of screw caps for me is uncertain. Now had I popped a foul double Maggie of 1990 Latour, perhaps. . . . .
I’ve had a few bottles of Larry’s 06 Grenache Blanc in the past year, and they’ve not only held up very well with no darkening or oxidation, but they have clearly developed a great deal, with a pronounced petrol and truffly character that you don’t find in that wine when it is younger.
In other words, they have developed every bit of the maturity/complexity you would have hoped for with that amount of age,* but without oxidation, TCA or any of the other risks that come with cork. There was zero question that the screwcap had merely suspended that wine in a stasis of its youthful nature.
*9 or 10 years amount being relatively “old” for the first vintage of an $18 California grenache blanc - I don’t mean that comment disparagingly in the least, but of course the time period over which, say, a Grand Cru red Burgundy becomes mature is of course a different amount of time.
Like the risk of TCA? ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Once again we must agree to disagree.
Nobody likes that risk.
But if you have very bad luck you´ve got 1 or 2 corked bottles in a case.
If the screwcap doesn´t work well with aging, the whole case is shot …
A case of premoxed white Burgundy under cork is a disaster…but a 20 yr old wine that tastes like a 5 yr old is hardly shot…you just need to focus on living longer
But seriously, now that screwcaps can be selected to desired oxygen permeability, even old wines tasting “too young” is unlikely to be an issue going forward
I can say I have also not seen the same development of secondary flavors under screw cap as in wines under cork. I am sure they change some but at a much, much slower rate. Maybe with the newer versions with controlled O2 ingress that will change, however I am still not very comfortable with a plastic liner in contact with a acidic alcoholic beverage for extended periods. Over time there has to be some breakdown of some compounds back into the wine that would effect flavor. I guess you could store them all right side up which is how I have all my screw cap wines in my cellar for lack of space and the issue I mention above.
The other question I have yet to every really be addressed it ullage. There is clear ullage under cork with the idea that as water and alcohol evaporate O2 goes back in. I have never seen detectable ullage on screw cap wines of 10 years or greater. So how does the O2 get thru the liner and yet now allow gasses the other way?
Lastly it is known that you do have to do things differently in the winery to bottle under screw cap. So2, dissolved O2, dissolved CO2 need to be in different ranges than for wine under cork. Reduction is a major issue that has to be addressed when putting wines under screw cap. This is the main affliction I found in NZ SB when there last. Even the tightness of the DIAM has created issues and producers have had to change protocols in the cellar or wait longer prior to release for the issue of reduction to correct itsealf.
Unless you are comparing the exact same wine bottled with different closures, it’s impossible to say what changes are due to the closure versus the wine itself. I have had many wines under cork that develops really slowly. Would they have developed differently under screw cap? We will never know. One of the best looks at this are the pieces that have been written about the plumpjack Cabernet. There is definitely development taking place under the screw cap according everything that I’ve seen. Just something else to add. And as far as the screwcap that were not applied correctly? That is always a potential challenge. Luckily it seems to be one that does not happen that often.
It´s absolutely (and unfortunately) not clear if the cork has anything to do with premox !
I agree, and I’m skeptical that something about the corks caused the epidemic of premox to start when it did.
Nonetheless, even if corks weren’t the cause, screwcaps could still be the solution. Long term tests on whites in Australia show that screwcaps do a fantastic job preventing premox.
And I see zero movement by Burgundy vignerons to identify and to fix the actual causes of premox. My personal guess is that it’s all or mostly the result of a shift to a riper, less acidic style which requires less age and sells very well. With sales brisk and pricing staying strong, what incentive do they have to make leaner, sharper wines just so they can improve the odds of the wines resisting premox for that small percentage of their customers who keep them to age?
Cork is a factor with premox, die to varying rates of O2 ingress and SO2 degradation, exacerbating the randomness.
I agree with this. If someone gives you a 2007 red wine to try that was under screwcap, you taste it and say “it doesn’t seem very evolved yet or to have a lot of tertiary development,” I don’t know that really proves anything. First, you aren’t comparing it blind against that same 2007 red wine under cork. Second, it’s very likely that people tasting that are already anticipating that conclusion because they know the wine was under screwcap, particularly those who are skeptics about using screwcaps on ageworthy reds going in.
It’s funny, when someone opens an older red and finds the wine particularly fresh, bright and youthful, that’s almost always relayed as a positive thing. But if the same thing happens when that wine had a screwcap, now suddenly it’s a bad thing. Or at least it feels that way when I read these kinds of comments.
Where you’d really like to see the test is on very tannic wines that need age to become enjoyable (as opposed to wines that can reasonably be drunk all or most of the way along even though they change over time, like pinot or shiraz). Would a 1996 2nd growth Bordeaux under screwcap be still tannic and closed whereas the same one under cork has matured into its drinkability window? Or same question with a 1996 Barolo. That would be interesting to get to compare. But there’s no real indication we’re going to get the chance.
Great thought provoking post, my friend!
Development of a wine under any closure (especially cap) is too slow for modern consumers, who want 20 year old complexity with 2 years of aging.
Bingo! Dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t . . .
From reading through everything, I think I would lean toward screwcaps. If wine will still mature and I can open a 30 year old bottle of wine without the fear of it being corked then I am all for it.