Oxygen Not Necessary for Maturation - Here Come the Screwcaps!

A recent study (caveat: funded by the Australian Closure Fund) by Australia's Southcorp's Research & Development Winemaker, released the findings of his study into "the role of oxygen in the ageing of bottled wine" determined that oxygen is not necessary for red wine maturation.

The study concluded:

... it is apparent that oxygen was not a vital component for the ongoing evolution and maturation of [] red wines after bottling. It is clear that access to small but measurable amounts of oxygen (eg synthetic closures), will accelerate the evolution and maturation of red wine through oxidative reactions. However, red wine will continue to evolve without measurable oxygen ingress.... Some bottled wine may express "reductive" characters in such an anaerobic environment, in contrast to the wine developing oxidised characters in a more aerobic environment (but the rankings indicated that these) are not considered commercially unacceptable.

The world's supply of quality cork is dwindling. Poor cork quality is primarily responsible for up to 1/12 of all wine being "corked" at the time of drinking. A wine is "corked" if too much oxygen has entered the bottle before it was opened and resulted in a flat, stale tasting wine.

There are two mains attempt to replace real cork corks:

1. the synthetic cork - a plastic cork replacement that works the same was as an organic cork.
2. the screwcap - topping a wine bottle with the same twist off top you see on a bottle of water (except made from metal, not plastic).

The problem has been around for years, but few winemakers have done anything about it because the solutions are perceived to diminish the experience of drinking wine. The synthetic corks look like a real cork, but definitely have a different feel when being extracted from a bottle. The screwcaps are criticized because they are too much like the enclosures for fortified wines such as Thunderbird - no one wants their wine to be associated with those.

Many wineries are finally realizing they can no longer ignore the problem. How many product managers would allow a condition to continue that means 8% of all customer experiences with your product are bad? Those people are not repurchasing your product and may even return your product for a refund.

Plumpjack led the way for premium wines. The Plumpjack Cabernet has been available in a screwcap for several vintages now. Caymus has recently put screwcaps on all 80,000 cases of their Sauvignon Blanc.

Corkage is a significant problem for every day drinking wine, but it is exacerbated for wines that are meant to be laid down. Collectors need to realize that they are risking their collections when insisting on maintaining the experience of opening a wine bottle over demanding proper closures.

Update: Some people wrote in saying that what I am calling "cork" is actually TCA taint. The correct term for what I am writing about is "oxidation." (2/22/05)