Screwing around: Do screw caps equal cheap wine?

the short answer? No.

Here is more:

Both Screw caps and natural cork serve the purpose of sealing the wine, while allowing it to age properly. Screw caps actually age the wine more consistently than natural cork, which makes sense given that they are man-made. While the debate is still out if a screw cap can age wine well for a long time (over say 5 years), it is becoming more widely accepted by wine makers, if not consumers, that screw caps are the BEST solution to closing most wine bottles.

Hogue cellars concluded that their wines actually aged better with the screw cap. Hogue Cellars did a 30 month test and decided that all of their wines could be better closed with screw caps than with traditional corks. They moved most of their wines to the Stevlin screw cap closure. They left their reserve wines closed with cork simply because of consumer expectations.

Screw caps were created to avoid wine being contaminated from TCA. Wines affected with TCA (Trichloroanisole) are said to be “corked”. Corked wine has a musty or moldy smell and taste. You know it when you taste it that something just isn’t right as the musty taste overwhelms the fruit and other aromas of the wine. It is estimated that about 5-15% of wines available for sale are corked.

95% of wines are meant to be consumed within 3 years of bottling, and it is estimated that the majority of these actually are drank within days of purchase. So, for the most part, the question of aging is not even an issue.

The majority of New Zealand wines are closed with screw caps. It is getting more common everywhere to see Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris under screw cap. You will see Pinot Noir from Oregon and Washington with price tags to $50 a bottle sold with screw caps.

Plumb Jack Winery in Napa bottles a very high end Cabernet Sauvignon under screw cap for $72. This wine is made to age, and they believe the screw cap is up to the task. Like Hogue, they performed their own research on the matter.

It is interesting to consider the push and pull between what consumers expect and what wine makers think is best for the wine. Screw caps are less expensive per bottle, once the equipment for them is in place, but the real cost savings is in fewer ‘corked’ bottles and fewer returns or losses due to dissatisfied customers. In my view, the quality wine makers converting to screw caps are really trying to do the right thing and are not just going for the cheapest option.

By the way, synthetic corks, made from plastic, appeared at first to be a viable alternative to traditional corks. However, they have since been proven to not age wine well due to their ability to cause early oxidation. They are typically used only for less expensive wines meant to be consumed young.

I think what we will see is an increase in screw caps as they become more accepted by consumers. The loss of the romantic opening of the cork with the corkscrew and that ‘pop’ sound you hear as the cork comes out will be missed. Also, in high end restaurants, servers are not yet sure what to do to provide an equivalent sense of drama around opening a wine with a screw cap!