Today I opened a J.B. Becker Riesling, and to my surprise I found that it used a glass stopper as a closure instead of a cork or screw cap. I’ve never heard of such a thing!
A quick search here showed me that in fact it’s not that unusual, but I do have questions that I didn’t see addressed in my search.
Why would a winery use a glass stopper? I assume it is more expensive than cork. Is it pure marketing—trying to signify that they are higher quality? Or is there a practical reason?
How does a glass stopper affect aging? Does it age faster, slower, or the same as cork? (I’m not sure how much oxygen it allows through.)
From a practical perspective, what does a glass stopper mean for me? Should I open the wine soon, or is waiting a few years ok? Is there a higher risk of leaking? Something else that I’m missing?
It should allow in much less oxygen given they have the bushing and as I am sure you can attest they can sometimes be a challenge to open. Ultimately I think its used as a more aesthetically pleasing alternative to Stelvin and a bit more premium in feel.
Henschke have been using them for years. The wines age wonderfully. Here’s Stephen Henschke’s take from their website.
"I love tradition, and it is very important to us as a sixth-generation family winery. However, when tradition lets you down as it has with cork, then it is time to evaluate better closures.
Screwcap is close to being the perfect closure for wine; however it is not properly understood, as it should be, as a quality closure in some market places. Prue and I discovered the Vinolok at the Stuttgart Intervitis in 2004. We were very impressed by the high quality finish of the glass stopper and environmental advantages. It had won the European Innovation Award.
Not long after that we brought the first Vinolok closures to Australia and embarked on a five-year trial, conducted with the Australian Wine Research Institute, to do the due diligence. The quality of presentation, reliability and robustness of the glass stopper makes it an ideal replacement for cork. Cork has a failure rate of between 10 and 50%. Vinolok at the same cost has close to zero. Red wine in a 750ml bottle ages under Vinolok as if it were bottled in a large-format bottle, it maintains its colour, aroma and structure over a longer period of time".
L’Encantada uses them (at least for the XO Armaganac blends I’ve had from them). The difficulty opening them is only exacerbated when it’s a bottle intended to be opened and closed multiple times before it’s gone. I finally started saving regular “t-cork” closures from other Armagnacs and using them on my L’Encantadas after opening them the first time. Much better.
Don Hagge at Vidon (Chehalem Mtns) had the same view. His base blend Pinot was screwcap and the single clone bottlings were glass stopper. They were a pain to open.
I like them. They came out before Diam was a thing and may not be needed anymore - I definitely don’t see them around as much as I used to. But the bottles I had with them aged just fine.
Don’t throw them out - they’re very handy for re-stopping bottles you double-decant and bring somewhere.
My magnums of Ulli Stein’s rosé trocken use them. The combination of German magnum bottle and glass stopper is either majorly impressive or supremely cringe-worthy, depending on the audience. I agree they’re a pain to open.
I’ve only had a small number of bottles with glass stoppers, but have always liked them. Don’t understand the “hard to open” experience, I just put the back side of a knife in there, and give it a light pry. They always pop right off into my hand. Easy to snap back on as well.
Very common with Provençales Roses. Agree comments above, PITA for reopening for multiple pours during the service (I use a knife to prise it open) but handy for re-seal overnight etc. But most of the wines I buy with glass stoppers are usually consumed in one sitting so the negative outweighs the potential plus.
Easy enough to open. I liked them when I encountered them. Hadn’t seen many lately until I tried a few Becker wines a couple of years ago. I like the stopper choice a lot more than the Becker wines.
I still have some other Germans and a couple of bottles of Austrian wines with glass stoppers. I should grab one sometime soon, as they are all rather older. Good chance to check the resilience the seal.
I haven’t had a hard time with them either. The first time I’d encountered these was in 2000 with a couple of wines from what was then Surh Luchtel, their Napa cabernet sauvignon and a red blend called Mosaique, both of which aged well (>15 y) under the glass stopper. I’ve also had Rieslings and some odds and ends that used glass stoppers–most recently an Alsatian skin-contact Pinot Gris.
I used these for years. Loved them. Did Vino-Loc side-by-side bottlings with cork. The glass stoppers always out-performed cork both for aging and consistency. My biggest beef was the choices for bottles were few - none were all that good (read good-looking).
Opening and closing? Glass stoppers are way easier, faster and more convenient. The only tools you need are at the end of your arms. They come out clean and easy and snap back in to perfectly reseal the bottle. Really, if you’re having trouble, you are doing something wrong. Don’t pull straight up - sort of pry with your thumb from one side.
My 2¢ worth…
Cork is expensive. In comparative terms, higher quality cork (not the highest quality) is the most expensive part of the bottling process. Bottle, label, and capsule combined, cost less than the cork. So in wines that you may want to invest less in the closure, glass stoppers are an alternative to cork without having to change bottles and your bottling line.
I like them as a consumer but I’ve not used them in my winery so I cannot speak personally regarding fitting and bottling issues.
As a consumer I love them, and like Keith I frequently reuse them when transporting double decanted wines. The only downside for me is that the internal diameter of bottle necks vary and they don’t always fit.
those were quite common in Germany and Austria from app. 2005 onwards, but some producers have switched to screwcaps. Absolutely no problem to open, just push upwards on the edge, and easy to reclose, also practical for refilled bottles.
I think aging is slower than with cork, similar to Sc
Robert Sinskey also uses them in some of bottles like Abraxas their Riesling blend. I remember the first bottle being a bit of an adventure to open, but figured it out and haven’t had difficulty since.
Some good advices on how to open and re-use the bottles.
Not many producers use them but have always had positive experience. The other week I opened a 2013 Vignoble du Reveur ‘Pierres Sauvages’ Sec (before that probably about 6 month since a 2015 Singulier and his 2013Riesling), showing very well.
