More wineries turn to screw caps to solve a smelly problem

As a lifelong collector of the wine opening tool known as the corkscrew, I have mixed emotions about the possibility of it going the way of my eight-track player. Just as the martini glass is the universal symbol for the cocktail, nearly everyone would instantly recognize the cork as synonymous with fine wine, although it’s a relative newcomer to the wine world (only a few centuries). But it’s not fashion that’s causing the decline of this noble opener, nor is it the sometimes challenging task of getting that little piece of tree bark out of the bottle. The problem is not the cork itself, but a condition that exists on the cork. It’s TCA, or, as it is known by the charts-and-graphs types, trichloroanisole, which occurs when natural mold combines with chlorphenol compounds. In some cases, the chemicals are present in the environment and are taken up by the tree; in others, the chlorine used to sterilize the cork contributes to the chemical reaction. Natural wood wine cork is made from the bark of the cork oak tree, primarily grown in southern Europe and northern Africa; a large share of commercial cork comes from Portugal. Although the percentage of wine tainted by TCA is in the single digits, the chemical’s presence is memorable – it gives the cork, and subsequently the wine, an aroma of mold and mildew. To describe this condition, we say that the wine is “corked.” With the enormously high quality of wine worldwide, badly made wines seldom make their way into the distribution channel of wholesalers and retailers, but bad individual bottles constantly show up on retail shelves and restaurant tables. While many conditions may ruin a wine, the cork taint of TCA is responsible for the vast majority of off or bad bottles. To address the issue, winemakers began to explore closure alternatives. Screw caps had been used for wine and many other beverages for many years, but the perception that a wine with a cork was higher in quality caused many wineries over the past 20 years to either stick with the natural wood cork or use one of the numerous cork-like closures that have been developed, including synthetic “corks” or cork particle/synthetic blends. While these cork wannabes initially appeared to have potential merit, they were generally found to work well only for short-term aging and had other problems such as difficulty of removal or even lack of a solid seal. And so back to the screw cap. While everyone in the wine production world knew that the best and most secure closure for wine was the screw top, the wineries’ marketing departments were getting ready to fall on their corporate swords when facing the possibility of selling the idea to the consumer. The greatest asset for screw cap acceptance has been the nearly universal use of it by New Zealand wineries on their increasingly popular and highly regarded Sauvignon Blancs for the past decade. As consumers saw the screw cap being used more frequently, not only in New Zealand but also in Australia, the shock of a tin top versus the traditional tree bark became less and less an issue to both producers and consumers. California wineries were initially reluctant to make the closure change, except for progressive, and sometimes even quirky, producers such as Randall Grahm at his Bonny Doon winery. Grahm actually celebrated the “death of the cork” at events to draw even more attention to his change in closure. Other wineries were experimenting with the screw tops, too, though many did not do so using their own names. The Murphy-Goode winery in Sonoma had a line called simply called Tin Roof Wines. A cute and creative name, but not reflective of the reputation of Murphy-Goode. But the screw cap got a boost when Napa Valley’s boutique PlumpJack Winery started selling its 1997 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon in a two-pack – one bottle with a cork and the other with a screw top. At $260 per pack, it created a huge national buzz for screw tops and the possibility of using them for high-priced collector wines. The first major Napa Valley winery to use screw tops on its wine was Silverado Vineyards, which began using the new closure on its Sauvignon Blanc several years ago. Since then, the floodgates have opened and dozens of West Coast wineries have made the change, including producers in Washington and Oregon. Missouri has joined the movement away from natural cork. At both his Augusta and Montelle wineries, Tony Kooyumjian has moved to 100 percent screw top usage. I recently spent an informative afternoon at Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, learning about the amazing technology in its new million-dollar bottling equipment. Assistant winemaker Shaun Turnbull explained every inch of the MBF machine, which is a state-of-the-art machine made in Italy. It will cap Stone Hill’s sweet and semi-sweet wines. At this year’s Missouri Wine Competition, Kooyumjian’s wineries and Stone Hill won a combined total of 22 of the 29 gold medals given. This certainly exhibits the high quality of the wines that are now being protected from TCA as well as the commitment of two of the Midwest’s very best winemakers to preserving quality, even if it means bucking tradition.