WineDeals

It’s getting harder to find corks in wine bottles. Screw tops are dominant now which is an interesting development considering that wine bottles have been sealed with corks since the 1600s.

So what are the arguments for and against and what has caused the shift?

Basically, the two main problems with corks are

• oxidation
• cork taint

Oxidation means that too much air has got into the wine which spoils the taste. Cork taint means that the smell and taste of the wine has been affected by the cork.

Winemakers came to expect that a percentage of wine would be undrinkable because of cork problems. The figure has been put at about 5%. This statistic varies depending on where it comes from but it’s in that ball park. It doesn’t seem all that high but when you convert it into dollar terms it’s significant enough.

So the screw top, or Stelvins as they are sometimes known, started to be trialled as an alternative to the cork.

The advantage is clearly that it’s a better seal and so oxidation doesn’t occur and there isn’t the same quantity of spoiled wine.

There are some perceived disadvantages in terms of aesthetics. We have a long tradition of taking corks from wine bottles. There is some romance attached to the look and the sound of the popping cork. It’s hard for a screw top to compare with this.

Perhaps more importantly the debate still continues over whether screw tops are suitable for red wines which rely on bottle aging to reach their potential. Cork naturally lets air into the bottle which allows the aging process.

However, it’s not quite so clear cut that screw tops don’t allow any air through at all. Some are saying that they do let a small amount of air through in predictable amounts and that they are suitable alternatives to corks for red wine as well as white wine.

So, for the time being, we’ll still see some wine bottles sealed with corks but screw tops are now in the majority and will almost certainly continue to dominate.