News
feature Jamie Goode goes beyond the tabloid headlines to discuss
the Wine International comparative tasting of cork-sealed and
screwcapped wines. (Originally appeared in Harpers Wine & Spirit
Weekly, 26 September 2003, p 11) Normally the wine bottle closure
debate is a rather specialist (and some might add dull) topic, but in
September 2003 it hit the big time. Corks and screwcaps were in the news
after national newspapers, including the Daily Mail and the Mirror
picked up a press release issued by Wine International (formerly
Wine Magazine) about a comparative tasting of fine wines sealed with
screwcaps and traditional corks. The results of this tasting were
published in an article by Publishing Editor, Robert Joseph, in the
October 2003 issue of the magazine. The groundbreaking tasting –
the first of its kind – was organized by Wine International and took
place at Vinexpo in June. Joseph and colleagues managed to get together
fine 49 wines sealed by screwcap, and where possible these were paired
alongside identical wines with natural corks.
While many of the wines were from recent vintages, some dated
back as far as 1980. In the 40 cases where screwcapped and cork-sealed
bottles were available for comparison, each of the panel of some 50
tasters – which included Peter Gago, Michel Rolland and Michel Laroche
– was asked to give their preference. The results were striking: for
the 40 comparisons, tasters preferred the cork-sealed bottle only once,
and opted for the screwcapped bottle a staggering 21 times.
An
interesting issue is raised by these results, which is not discussed in
the article. What these results show is that wines sealed with screwcaps
in many cases taste different to those sealed with corks. Proponents of
screwcaps argue that they taste better, fresher and age more slowly. But
this may dissuade old world producers who make wines destined for long
bottle ageing from turning to screwcaps, because they will argue that
their customers like the way that their wines taste—and develop in the
bottle—when they are sealed by corks. This is likely to be an issue
that will continue to be debated for some time to come. I asked Joseph
whether he’d switch to screwcaps if he was a wine producer. ‘Switching
across the board is either brave, foolhardy or suicidal—depending on a
producer's relationship with their customers, and those customers’
(retailers' and sommeliers') relationship with the end-user,’ he
replied. ‘While
applauding those who've made the leap, I'd put a proportion of all my
wines in screwcap and let the market grow into them. My experience at
the Bordeaux tasting makes me every bit as keen to use screwcaps for
ageable reds as on fresh aromatic whites.’ In his article Joseph also
criticised the use of environmental arguments by cork producers keen to
persuade consumers against alternatives. He points out that far from
being under threat, cork forests in Portugal are actually increasing by
4% a year, and the Iberian lynx, whose demise has been blamed on the
switch to alternative closures, has been in decline for a century.
‘I'm delighted that the debate is now out in the open’, Joseph told
Harpers. ‘Hopefully there will be a lot more similar tastings - both
behind winery doors and in public - and a lot more level-headed analysis
of closures in general and the environmental issues (which should not be
overlooked).’ He adds that, ‘In future, the cork manufacturers may
find that their multi-million-pound campaigns fall on less fertile
soil.’ Also included in the article
were the results of a survey conducted on the incidence of cork taint at
the 2003 International Wine Challenge. Although a tally of cork-tainted
bottles has been kept in previous years – in 2001 it was 6% and in
2002 it was 4.6% – for this year all cases of suspected mustiness were
verified as cork taint by a superjuror. The results were that of 11 033
bottles sealed with natural corks, 4.9% were considered to be corked. A
further 2.79% were faulty for other reasons. This figure tallies well
with results from other surveys, and raises further questions about the
Wine and Spirit Association’s (WSA) large survey of musty taint,
published in June 2002. The WSA’s trial involved more than 14 000
bottles, and came out with a taint rate of 0.7–1.2%, considerably
lower than other surveys have reported. However, this study was widely
criticised, and a feature in Harpers (11 October 2002) pointed out significant
methodological flaws likely to make this a substantial underestimate of
the true taint rate. As yet, the WSA have failed to retract their
findings. Perhaps the results from the International Wine Challenge
Fault Clinic will make them think again? But Joseph adds that he still
thinks there is some resistance in the trade to screwcaps for fine wine.
‘Sommeliers (often, it should be said, ones with Gallic roots) and
older British importers and merchants are often certainly still either
sceptical or downright negative, and this naturally communicates itself
to producers.’ How long does he think it will be until we see fine
wines from the old world sealed with screwcaps? ‘Well, Laroche, Paul
Blanck and Kuehn are already putting what I think of as fine wine under
screwcap and crowncap (in the case of Kuehn) and I'd place a bet that
Dourthe will use Stelvins for some higher-level Bordeaux.’ But Joseph
adds, ‘I'm not saying that screwcaps are necessarily the answer. The
new Zork from Australia [a novel closure due to be launched next year]
might work just as well, and there will certainly be other interesting
innovations. However, I do believe that cork's days as the most widely
used closure for wine are numbered.’ Jospeh predicts that, whatever
happens, cork will still have its fans. ‘After all, traditionalists
who know where to ask and don't like latex can apparently still buy
condoms made from sheep’s intestines - as all were until the 1850s’.
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