“Why don’t you use screw cap?” is a question that winemakers are often asked when people come and visit (especially if the visitors are Swedish! All Swedes – and many Britons – seem convinced of the screw caps superiority).
Twenty years ago virtually all wine was sealed with natural cork and screw cap was only used for the worst plonk. Then things changed because the quality of natural declined, but have now substantially recovered. But on some markets consumers are convinced “screw cap is better”.
Unfortunately it is not so simple. There are advantages and drawbacks with both natural cork and screw cap and it would be nice to have some more nuance in the debate about closures. One who has clearly chosen sides is Jonathan Healy who has written a book on the wines from the south of France, and writes a blog.
”The oddly bright (allegedly “drinkable”) bottles [sealed with screwcap] bring to mind images of inert laboratory specimens in formaldehyde”
is one of his comments in his blog article The screwcap revolution 10 (or 11) years on. It is indeed a post worth reading with an alternative (yes, that’s where we are today!) view on closures.
So, do you like screw cap? Acceptable for quality wines?
