So lately I've been reading a lot and hearing a lot of debate about wine packaging, both the container itself, and the closures. So, I thought I'd pitch into the conversation with my personal thoughts on wine packaging. I've decided to split this into two posts, and first will talk about wine bottle closures.
When talking about a traditional bottle of wine, there are basically four options out there to seal the wine: cork, cork blend, synthetic cork, and screw cap.
Corks are the classic choice, and still used in most high end wines. They are porous enough to allow limited oxygen to come into the wine, but in a very controlled and predictable manner. Cork also has the ability to shrink and expand, meaning that it will adjust to temperature differences and maintain its seal. Cork also comes from the bark of a tree and is therefor a renewable resource. There are some drawbacks to cork. While renewable, cork is a limited resource, in that the trees from which it is harvested take time to grow their bark to the necessary thickness. This means cork supply is limited and cork can be expensive. There is also a chemical called TCA which can find its way into wine from cork. This gives a wet paper flavor and aroma to wine, and is what us wine folk are actually talking about when we talk about a "corked" wine. Some experts estimate that 10% of wines containing traditional cork have some level of cork taint. One of the biggest problems here is that cork taint is sometimes subtle, and, if you have not had an un-corked bottle of the same wine, or been trained in identifying off flavors in wine, you might not recognize cork taint as such, and might just think the wine itself was bad.
Synthetic corks are plastic plugs designed to look and feel like cork and serve the same purpose. Their biggest advantages are that there is no risk of cork taint, and that they are inexpensive, since they can be artificially produced. That being said, I have heard some people say that plastic corks leak a plastic flavor into some wines, particularly high acid wines. These corks are also not as porous as real cork, meaning the wine will not really breathe or develop in the same ways it would in a bottle sealed with cork. Synthetic cork is also not as malleable, meaning that dramatic temperature changes may cause small gaps in the seal, allowing unexpected oxygen, or even other contaminants, to enter your wine. In my personal opinion, synthetic cork is the worst way to seal a bottle of wine.
Cork blends are generally made from scraps of cork and/or recycled cork, synthetic cork, or some combination of the two. Depending on the exact amount of plastic and cork, and the way in which the cork is put together, they can vary greatly in terms of the pros and cons of both synthetic and real cork. Most low-mid priced wine with a "real" cork is actually blended these days. One huge advantage to this, if using a higher quality cork blend, is that the amount of oxydation can be selected, as the cork maker can create a blend which allows more or less air in.
Screw caps are rapidly growing in popularity. Due to their being used primarily on cheap table wine in the U.S. originally, they had a certain stigma which has taken years to get over. On the other hand, almost all wines from Australia and New Zealand, across all quality and price ranges, are packaged with screw tops. In terms of its actual affects on wine, it is a pretty solid choice. The biggest advantage is convenience. No digging through a drawer looking for a wine key. Another advantage is that there is no risk of cork taint. Then there is a factor that can be considered both an advantage and a disadvantage. Screw caps, generally speaking, are about as close as you can get to being air tight. This means there is almost no risk of an oxidized wine. On the other hand, many wines develop quite nicely in bottle and really open up, or mellow, when stored in a bottle (for a short or a long period of time). Screw caps don't allow this development. There was also some concern about screw caps leeching a metallic flavor into wines, but over the years, they have developed linings which are strong enough to remove this as a major concern. The other interesting thing is that they are now developing screw caps which do allow for limited aeration of the wine as it rests or ages in bottle. I'm a little skeptical about that personally. Overall, my take on screw caps is this: wines which are meant to be drunk young are great out of a screw cap. They tend to be bright and fresh. This is good for fruit-forward wines, and for wines with balanced but high acidity, and low tannin. On the other hand, wines meant for aging, or wines with bold tannin flavor, probably won't open up in a screw cap the way they would in a cork-sealed bottle.
Do you know of another popular closure for bottled wines that I missed? What's your favorite closure? Let me know in the comments!
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