We fully understand some of our customers' reactions to our switch from synthetic corks to the screw closure. There are many reasons why we came to the decision to move in the direction of screw closures, a decision shared by hundreds of other quality wine producers world wide. Let me start by saying that irrefutably, screw closures as they are manufactured and applied today, are the best closure to assure that the wine we work so hard in producing is delivered to our consumers with the freshness we intended. The science is firmly in place to support that statement.
How to open a twist cap closure:
Natural cork and synthetic cork inherently allow an unpredictable and hugely variable amount of oxygen into the wine as the wine ages in bottle. There is no way the cork producer can control this. From cork to cork within a single bag of corks the differences in oxygen diffusion can range almost one thousand fold. The wine responds to this situation by ageing at different rates from bottle to bottle. What you as a consumer will experience is a variation in how the wine tastes and smells from bottle to bottle which at times can be quite dramatic.
In addition, natural cork can impart negative aromas and flavors known as ‘cork taint’ to wine. Cork taint will rob the wine of its freshness at the very minimum, up to imparting a moldy aroma at the extreme. It is estimated that up to 20% of all wines under a natural cork closure are affected by cork taint. Again, the cork producers can not assure us that their cork is free from this hazard. Modern day screw closures overcome all of the above obstacles. We as an industry now have enough information on screw closures to say that they have become the closure that all past and future closures will have to measure up to.
We intend on providing you with the best wine we possibly can. We believe that the screw closure assures that you experience our wines as they were intended to be.
Questions? Feel free to email me at gary.horner@erath.com
|
