# Screw this!



## ibglowin (Jul 12, 2011)

Didn't think it would happen this fast, well think again! 

*Hogue moves entire lineup to screwcaps after 5 year study*

_Hogue Cellars has long been an advocate for screwcap closures. The winery now takes the big plunge, moving its entire production to screwcaps after a comprehensive five-year study. 

Hogue’s decision to move its production entirely to screwcaps was firmly rooted in science. The company first began seriously looking at alternative closures in 2001. At the time, the winery began a three year study comparing cork, synthetic closures, and screwcaps. Based on this study the winery moved 70% of its production to Saranex-lined screwcaps, starting in 2004. Hogue left its remaining wines in cork pending further study. 

Hogue began its second study in 2005. The purpose was both to further validate the earlier findings and to evaluate the effects of different closure types on oxygen ingress, fruit preservation, and the ability to age. 

First the winery looked at an oxygen-sensitive wine, Sauvignon Blanc. Here Hogue looked at 10 different closure types – seven different types of screwcaps and three different types of synthetic corks. Wines were tasted blind every four months for two years by a seven member tasting panel. 

What the winery found was that wines sealed with a Saranex-lined screwcap better retained fresh aromas and flavors compared to the other closure types. The winery also found that not all screwcaps were created equal. Aluminum-lined screwcaps had flinty characteristics. Closures that let in very low amounts of oxygen had more reductive qualities, and ones that let in higher amounts of oxygen showed more aged characteristics. 

Next the winery compared two Merlots – the 2003 Genesis Merlot ($15) and the 2004 Hogue Merlot ($9). Here the winery used nine different closures including: natural cork, five different types of screwcaps, and three different synthetic closures. Wines were tasted blind every 12 months for five years using a seven person tasting panel. Wines were subsequently evaluated on a number of different sensory criteria. 

What the winery found was that, after five years, the 2003 Genesis Merlot using a Saranex-lined screwcap showed more fruit intensity compared to other closure types. This closure preserved the wine better than natural corks and synthetics but also did so appropriate for the wine’s age. Interestingly, the winery found that the amount of nitrogen added to the headspace made a significant difference, with raters preferring wines without nitrogen added. Fairly similar results were found for the 2004 Hogue Merlot. 

Based on its study, the winery concluded screwcaps can be as good or better at both preserving wines and aging wine. As a result the winery plans to move the remainder of its production – Genesis and Reserve - to screwcap closures with Saranex linings starting with the 2009 vintage. 

One interesting point from Hogue’s study is that there were large differences in various closures on how well the wine aged. Wines aged under certain closures were well preserved but still showed appropriate aged characteristics. Wines under different closures were not or did not. 

This point was underscored by a blind tasting of its 2003 Genesis Merlot during the company’s recent presentation in Seattle. The tasting included five different closure types. The wines were markedly different with some extremely well preserved, some faded, and some in between. 

For me, the wine that I most preferred was the Saranex lined closure using nitrogen in the headspace. However, I preferred this wine largely because it had been essentially mummified, showing almost no age whatsoever compared to its counterparts. In contrast, the Saranex-lined closure without nitrogen in the headspace showed an appropriate amount of age but was still well preserved. Notably, the wine using a cork closure was identifiable as it had a slight ‘corkiness’ to it, although the wine was well-preserved. 

Overall, the Hogue study is notable for its scientific rigor. The winery should also be commended for the openness with which it has shared its findings (go to www.twistopenhogue.com for additional information). This type of study takes an enormous amount of time and considerable cost. To wit, 3,200 different samples were used during the course of the study. Few wineries in Washington have the ability, financially or logistically, to pull something like this off. 

Co-founder Gary Hogue said that while the cost of the study was substantial, there was a more important driving force in conducting the study. “If your name is on a product and it’s bad, it’s embarrassing,” Hogue said. Hogue also questioned how acceptable it is to have wines tainted by TCA, even if the overall level of cork taint is low. “When you go into a grocery store, how many sections have consumables that are tainted? One – the wine section.” 

While Hogue is now committed to using screwcaps for 100% of its production, Director of Winemaking Co Dinn understands that it will still take other wineries – and consumers – additional convincing. “This is just a piece of the puzzle. It helps move the needle a little bit,” Dinn says. _

Get all the facts here


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## Mike93YJ (Jul 12, 2011)

Interesting!


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## Tom (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm not sold on screw caps.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 12, 2011)

There is a winery by me that has also gone to all screw caps. It's a very expensive initial set up cost.


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## ibglowin (Jul 12, 2011)

The data is quite compelling. 5 year study that they paid for themselves.



Tom said:


> I'm not sold on screw caps.


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## cpfan (Jul 12, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> There is a winery by me that has also gone to all screw caps. It's a very expensive initial set up cost.


Some wineries have bought a mobile bottling line, that they can then rent out to other wineries.

The "wineries shifting to screw caps" thing has been going on for years. I really applaud a winery that does their own studies on the matter, rather than following the herd. But I suspect that some wineries will switch to screw caps because everybody else has.

Interesting that Hogue tried several different screwcaps. Points out that not all screw caps are created equal. When home winemakers talk about re-using screw caps, it points out that you don't necessarily know what you'll get.

Here's a link to the Tinhorn Creek (an Okanagan Canada winery) page on screw caps. Not the same type of testing, but interesting comments.
http://www.tinhorn.com/page.php?pageID=146&parentID=135

Steve


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## Dugger (Jul 13, 2011)

I was at the Grey Monk Winery in the Okanagan ( near Vernon) in April and they use Stelvin closures but just for their whites if I recall correctly. Some of the wineries here in the Annapolis Valley use screw caps as well, but just for whites, I believe.


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## ibglowin (Jul 13, 2011)

Thats how they usually start out, with the whites as they are not meant to be held on to for any real length of time. Then, they try it on a lower end red that fits the same bill, then they just say what the heck and they go all screw top......


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## PCharles (Jul 13, 2011)

*Screw Caps*

Wine is like the fruit of life and uncorking a bottle is part of wines suductive nature. Unscrewing a cap is not part of my mental image of enjoyment when it comes to fine wine. At best screw caps remind me of the times I drank Boones Farm as in my youth, not a fine wine drinking experience to say the least. 

Clearly this is done to cut costs. I'm wondering what else will they do to cut costs. I will vote with my puchases and I have no plans to buy wines with screw caps. 

I'm sure these wines will do fine in the grocery store next to the Vino Primo.


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## ibglowin (Jul 13, 2011)

Cost is a factor but not by any means the driving force. 

The real driving force behind the "alternative enclosure" is contained in the book To Cork Or Not To Cork by George Taber, same guy that wrote "Judgement of Paris". The Australians (who were the first to use screw caps in large amounts) kept being sent absolute crap corks by the cork manufacturers in Portugal. They were selling all the cork they could manufacture and raising prices every year knowing full well much of their product was tainted. Some Aussie wines were suffering as much as 33% cork taint in any year. 

They had really no choice but to look for some alternative. Flash forward to today 10+ years later and now the cork makers are all very concerned as demand for their product has plummeted. They are now lot testing every single batch of cork sent out for TCA and anything that doesn't pass (and the level is low) gets trashed. They are running scared and rightfully so. The Wine Industry has built themselves a "better mousetrap" as they say, and yes, it is slightly cheaper but it also has catchwords such as green technology, recyclable.......

Bottom line, the cork manufactures "screwed" themselves by thinking they had the industry over a "barrel". That light at the end of the tunnel, thats the "Stelvin Screw Cap Train" and there is no stopping it I am afraid......


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## JasonH (Jul 13, 2011)

Thanks for posting the article! Although, I'm not sure how I feel about "unscrewing" my wine.


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## cpfan (Jul 13, 2011)

PCharles said:


> Wine is like the fruit of life and uncorking a bottle is part of wines suductive nature. Unscrewing a cap is not part of my mental image of enjoyment when it comes to fine wine. At best screw caps remind me of the times I drank Boones Farm as in my youth, not a fine wine drinking experience to say the least.
> 
> Clearly this is done to cut costs. I'm wondering what else will they do to cut costs. I will vote with my puchases and I have no plans to buy wines with screw caps.
> 
> I'm sure these wines will do fine in the grocery store next to the Vino Primo.



As Mike/ibglowin has pointed out, it is nothing to do with costs. As Runningwolf mentioned, the equipment is quite expensive. From a strictly cost viewpoint, why would they switch when they are already set up to cork? As Mike said, the answer is TCA & corked wine.

But it's interesting to read/hear different people's viewpoints. Some (like you) associate screw caps with cheap wine (ie Boones Farm). Others view it as not having to use a corkscrew. Having run a wine making store, I know that for some folks having to use a corkscrew keeps them from enjoying wine. I recall a customer who couldn't drink any wine when her husband was away because she couldn't (wouldn't?) learn to use a corkscrew. In some cases, they had only used cheap poor corkscrews.

Steve


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## Runningwolf (Jul 13, 2011)

Isn't it true in some countries like New Zealand and Australia, screw caps are the only thing they use. I have no doubt from the indpendent studies that screw aps are good to use at least for short term storage (less then 5 years) but like Steve said I also relate to Boones Farm. Did they have it figured out so years ago?


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## ffemt128 (Jul 13, 2011)

There is a winery in Beaufort, SC that used the ZORKs on all of their wines. Not sure how those compare to a regular cork or a screw cap.


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## jet (Jul 13, 2011)

I'm sure the switch to screw caps is profitable which why the big boys are switching (they are out to make money after all). I know that the initial cost of equipment is so high as to keep it out of reach for smaller wineries.

You hear that NZ wines are all screw caps. As a fan of NZ SB, I can say the cork is rare but not extinct.


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## ibglowin (Jul 13, 2011)

Yep, NZ is almost all screw top. I also am a big fan of NZ SB. I only know of one brand that is still bottled under cork. All the rest are Screw Top. Australia is still hanging on to cork a bit stronger and longer for some reason. They seem to have a bit more "value wines" still under cork. Some of the Yellow Tail Whites went to screw caps last year. I am sure its just a matter of time for the reds to follow. Heck even 3 Buck Chuck is still under cork here in the states!



Runningwolf said:


> Isn't it true in some countries like New Zealand and Australia, screw caps are the only thing they use. I have no doubt from the indpendent studies that screw aps are good to use at least for short term storage (less then 5 years) but like Steve said I also relate to Boones Farm. Did they have it figured out so years ago?


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## Larryh86GT (Jul 13, 2011)

No matter. The cork soakers on our forum are never going to change. Darn, I forgot the secret handshake.


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## ibglowin (Jul 13, 2011)

Bwahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa!


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## Runningwolf (Jul 13, 2011)

Larryh86GT said:


> No matter. The cork soakers on our forum are never going to change. Darn, I forgot the secret handshake.



just not more than three times!


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## JohnT (Jul 15, 2011)

Read the book "Corked" by George Taber. 

Cork manufacturers have been making great strides in all but erraticating TCA. 

The problem I see with screwcaps is (as I see it) 4 fold.. 

1) Corks provide an avenue for micro oxidation. This is one of the factors that (some think) improve wine over time. Screw caps provides too good of an air tight seal. Do not expect wine to change much over time if you go with a screw cap.

2) Screw caps require rather expensive equipment for installation. Depending on set up, it can be cost prohibitive. 

3) A five year study (which is what most producers have endorsed) tells you absolutely nothing about how wines will fair over a 20 year period. For quality wines or investment wines (or wines to be stored over a long period of time), screw caps represent the untested and unknown.

4) Sigma! There seems to be fewer and fewer of us that are still around that remember the last time that screw caps were thrust into the market. At that time, the wines that went with screw caps were the cheaper, low cost garbage wines (Gallo gallon jugs, for example - the same stuff that they aged in concrete vats). 

As a result, screw caps have developed into a stigmatic sign of the cheap and inferior. You may not agree with this, especially nowadays with wineries searching for alternatives to cork (and the risk of TCA). But there is still a ring of truth to the stigma and its perception by the public. Most people will opt for a corked bottle rather that a screw cap when browsing a wine shop thinking (perhaps falsely) the the corked wine is of higher quality. 

One last thought... When you have your soul mate in front of a fireplace on a cold winter's night, would you rather hear the "CCCCCCLICK" of the screw cap being twisted, or the romantic "POP" of the wine cork? Which sound will impress more?


(ever hear about the guy that cut his nose by trying to sniff the screw cap????)


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## cpfan (Jul 15, 2011)

JohnT...

First I'm a home wine maker. Therefore I use corks. Therefore I prefer to buy commercial wines in cork finish bottles on those rare occasions that I buy a commercial wine. (And I buy beer in crown cap bottles.)

1. It is my understanding that the RIGHT screw cap will provide micro oxygenation. Sorta mentioned in the original article.

2. Cost. Yep already mentioned. But is a corking setup more or less expensive than a screw cap setup for a new winery? And since this discussion is on a Home Wine Makers Forum, it is best to mention that home screw capping with Stelvin style caps is VERY cost prohibitive.

3. 5 years vs 20 years? Big deal. Most wine is consumed within 2 days of purchase.

4. Stigma. Definitely an issue for some people. Not so much the younger generation.



> One last thought... When you have your soul mate in front of a fireplace on a cold winter's night, would you rather hear the "CCCCCCLICK" of the screw cap being twisted, or the romantic "POP" of the wine cork? Which sound will impress more?



Or perhaps..."DAMN, where the **blip** is the corkscrew?" Or given that many people have cheap corkscrews, perhaps "I BROKE IT!! Do we have another corkscrew?" Very romantic.

Steve


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## robie (Jul 15, 2011)

Here is an interesting article, concerning screwcaps and mercaptans.

http://www.wineanorak.com/mercaptansinwine.htm

I can't find it now, but I recently read an article that compared white wines with various closure. The wines were 20 years old, so I imagine the technology has changed since then. It that testcase, the color of the wines was drastically different. Most of the wines were no longer drinkable, except for the screw-caped bottle.

I see no reason to consider switching from corks. Maybe I am a romantic.


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