Dans Papers - May 18, 2007 - Over the Barrell...

When it comes to wine closures, there are two main camps: cork and screw caps. Yeah, I know there are other options like glass corks and Zork corks, but those are more novelty than anything else at this stage in their development.

The main reason some people think winemakers should buck tradition and leave natural cork behind is quite simple--it doesn't always do its job correctly. First and foremost, cork is supposed to serve as a seal, keeping air out and wine in. That may seem like a simple job, but we've all seen corks leak. They expand and contract over time as temperatures and humidity changes.

Not only do they not always protect the wine, they can also damage the wine.

Have you ever opened a bottle of wine, maybe one that you've had before and have been looking forward to having again, only to be greeted with a mildewy, wet cardboard, basement smell? That's cork taint.

Cork taint, also know as TCA (which is an acronym for a long, difficult-to-say compound) affects the aromas and flavors of anywhere from 3% to 15% of the bottles, depending on whose statistics you believe.

Screw cap closures, used for decades on mass-produced "Burgundy" and "Chablis" from California--think Riunite or Carlo Rossi--don't leak. So on that basic level they are superior to cork. And, they aren't susceptible to TCA either. Recently some recent research has shown that screw caps might have their own taint problems, but I've never experienced them firsthand and the data is far from conclusive.

So, why don't many wineries outside of Australia and New Zealand use screw caps? Well, they aren't perfect either. Some argue that the romanticized pop of a cork trumps the potential for cork taint. Others say that there just isn't enough research on how wines age under screw cap. One of the reasons certain wines develop and change over the years is the exchange of air across the seal. With some screw caps, the seal isn't permeable, so air doesn't move across it.

Personally, I think that it makes the most sense to close wines that are meant to be consumed in their youth--roses, many whites and even casual reds--with screw caps. If they are going to guarantee their freshness, why not? For higher-end, cellar-worthy wines, I'd like to see more long-term research on them first.

But, last week I came across yet another benefit to screw caps--convenience.

We welcomed our first child, Jackson William Thompson, into our family last week when my in-laws were visiting, we decided to get takeout and eat it in the hospital as my wife recovered. I ran out and got the food and also ducked into a local wine shop. The shop was marginal at best. The wines weren't particularly well stored and the selection was awful. And, as I was trying to choose a couple bottles, I remembered that I didn't have a corkscrew!

I ended up with a bottle of Babich Vineyards 2006 Sauvignon Blanc ($11) and Brancott Vineyards 2004 Pinot Noir ($13) both from New Zealand and both closed with a screw cap. Both were fresh tasting, offered lively acidity and--for the money--couldn't have been better......even sipped out of Styrofoam hospital cups.