The return of cork?
Cork is coming back into fashion due to some wine producers experiencing reductiveness
Print18 September 2012
Rusden Wines of Australia’s Barossa Valley has announced that it intends to bottle all its wines under cork from now on. Like most Australian producers, Rusden had moved to all screwcap production but after five years, its winemaker, Christian Canute, has decided that the wines, which are bottled without fining or filtration, are becoming reductive under screwcap. Reductiveness occurs in low oxygen conditions, wherein sulphur dioxide, added to wine to preserve it, develops volatile compounds called mercaptans, which impart unwanted flavours and aromas. Screwcap closures eliminate almost all oxygen.
Speaking to Australia’s Wine Business magazine, Canute also argued that using top quality cork is more environmentally sustainable than screwcap. It is widely accepted that stelvin manufacture creates more unwanted emissions than cork production. Cork manufacturing also supports the planting and maintenance of cork forests in Portugal and Italy, sustaining a wide range of wildlife. Klein Constantia of South Africa has also returned to cork for some of its wines, again citing problems with reductiveness.
Port of the solution lies in the correct judgment of sulphur addition and it’s been known for some time that screwcapped wines should have less of it than wines under cork. However, this does not seem to solve the problem entirely. There’s also the issue that, under screwcap, red wines seem to age in a less complex way than under cork, with some wines remain very stable for some years and then simply fading, rather than evolving, with greater age.
Bad cork has always been bad news. But it’s also the case that screwcaps are cheaper for wine producers than top quality cork, ensuring a longer shelf life for aromatic whites like sauvignon blanc and riesling. Thus there may a temptation to assume that screwcap is best for every kind of wine. The jury could still be out on this one.
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