Leadership of the worldwide move to screwcaps as wine closures has passed to New Zealand following the 1st International Screwcap Symposium just completed in Marlborough’s main town, Blenheim where over 260 delegates from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, Italy, USA, Chile, and India, agreed to a committee to establish an international organization dedicated to promoting and improving screwcap wine closures.

The symposium was conceived and organized by the New Zealand Screwcap Initiative, started in 2001 by a group of Marlborough wineries frustrated by rising levels of contamination of their wines from TCA in natural corks. Since then, screwcap use in New Zealand has spread rapidly and it is estimated that over 70 per cent of the country’s 2004 vintage wines will be sealed by screwcap.

The foundation committee of the international organization will be chaired by Michael Brajkovich MW, and includes fellow New Zealander George Fistonich, proprietor of the Villa Maria Group, Jeffrey Grosset, of Clare Valley, Australia, Michel Laroche MW, of Domaine La Roche, Chablis, Randall Grahm, of Bonny Doon Vineyard, USA, with representatives to be finalised from South Africa and South America.
Its first meeting will be in London in May next year at the time of the London International Wine & Spirits Trade Fair.

Prior to the meeting, attention will be given to how best to deal with these agreed issues:

• Market Penetration in New Zealand and Australia is healthy.


• International market penetration is small and fragmented particularly in Europe and the USA.


• Technical issues require ongoing research attention.


• On-going liaison between suppliers and producers is essential.


• Information dissemination needs to be on-going, via website(s) etc.


• Funding for both market research and promotion is necessary.


• Individual national organisations require a level of international coordination and cooperation.

In the final address at the symposium, Australian Tyson Stelzer, author of two books so far on screwcap closures, saluted the Clare Valley winemakers and the New Zealand Screwcap Initiative, saying they have “led the world in what is undoubtedly the most revolutionary change in wine seal technology in many centuries.”

Stand-out speakers at the symposium were:

Jeffrey Grosset, who in 1999, persuaded fellow Clare Valley winemakers to make a collective introduction of screwcaps on their signature varietal wine, Riesling. He said his experience has shown that “premium wine can be made available 100% free of taint from the closure, without compromising the ability of the wine to develop and mature in the bottle.” Diligent commercial use of (screwcaps) has proven to be technically flawless. Mr Grosset said that the ability of the screwcap to retain the character of the wine as it was at time of bottling meant that the winemaker had to ensure highest quality in the wine prior to bottling. Minor blemishes which could be masked by cork were exposed by the strict consistency of screwcap seals.

Michael Brajkovich MW, who has demonstrated that wines mature well under screwcap, which provides a complete seal and excludes oxygen which is not necessary for bottle development. He quoted from P. Ribéreau-Gayon et al (2000) Handbook of Enology - Vol.2 The Chemistry of Wine Stabilization and Treatments: “When a wine ages in the bottle, the oxidation – reduction potential decreases regularly until it reaches a minimum value, depending on how well the bottle is sealed. Reactions that take place in bottled wine do not require oxygen. If the cork is no longer airtight, an oxidized character develops.”

Peter Godden, of the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide, which has recorded results of closure trials for over five years (63 months). The closures tested were one screwcap, two types of natural cork, two types of “technical cork”, three types of extruded and six types of moulded synthetic stoppers. In all tests, the screwcap came out best. (In the original trial all bottles sealed with the Sabate Altec closure were tainted but Godden noted that in a subsequent trial Sabate's prototype Diam's have not tainted after two years. Ed.)

George Fistonich, who has converted to screwcap the total production of his Villa Maria group, third largest in New Zealand, and the largest remaining in New Zealand ownership. Mr Fistonich, who has declared his group’s wineries as “cork free zones”, said that having agreed with key staff on a group mission statement based on wine excellence, “the over-riding business rationale in changing from cork to screwcap is that we could prove that under cork closure, we were UNABLE to deliver on our mission statement.”

Michel Laroche MW, said that since, in 1967, he joined his father as the fifth generation in the family domaine, he had introduced many changes in viticultural practices, but it was not until a tasting of his 2001 Grand Cru Chablis persuaded him the recognise the need to change closures. A tasting of 40 bottles of La Roche Grand Cru 2001 vintage found 15 affected by cork taint, 22 just acceptable, and only three in peak condition.

John Thorogood, of Lay and Wheeler, UK, who said that the benefits of screwcap were being accepted rapidly in Britain by consumers led by supermarket chains and other sections of the off-trade. However, some restaurants were reluctant to convert, in spite of the fact that screwcaps provided sommeliers with the opportunity to talk about the wine in the bottle rather than concentrating on the cork.

Michael Franz, wine writer for the Washington Post who said that consumer acceptance of screwcaps in USA is ahead of trade acceptance, a finding confirmed by a private survey of 100 wholesaler distributors throughout US, of whom 96 replied. He felt that most Americans are still uncomfortable with wine, and have a lot to learn. They could be turned off wine it if became perceived as being too complicated, such as by too much emphasis on TCA in corks v the superiority of screwcaps. Communication to consumers should concentrate on the wine quality factors assured by screwcaps.

Tyson Stelzer, author of the well received Screwed for good? The case for screwcaps on red wines quoted Robert M Parker who just last month wrote: “I believe wines bottled with corks will be in the minority by 2015. More and more state-of-the-art wineries are moving to screw caps for wines that need to be consumed within 3 to 5 years of the vintage (95 percent of the world’s wines). Look for this trend to accelerate. Stelvin, the screw cap of choice, will be become the standard for the majority of the world’s wines.” Mr Tyson said the challenge for wineries was to persuade the world that red wines as well as white would benefit from screwcapping, and to demonstrate confidence in the screw closure by using it on their top line wines.

Chuck Hayward of the Jug Shop in San Francisco which specialises in wines from Australia and New Zealand, said: “The American market today is largely in an acceptance phase regarding screwcaps in the wine industry. Much of today’s acceptance of this closure has come from the sheer numbers of screwcapped wines that consumers and the trade now encounter on a daily basis. The novelty of the screwcap is gone, as is the need for gimmicky marketing ideas to introduce the concept to the wine drinking public. Such wines are now on wine lists, often specifically designated as screwcap wines. Sommeliers have adapted or created new serving techniques to accommodate the new closure. There have been side benefits to screwcaps which consumers have identified and seen as positive factors: senior citizens with arthritis who appreciate the ease of opening the bottle, bartenders who can twist and pour wines quickly, picknickers who forget their corkscrew.”

Other speakers confirmed that the technical superiority of screwcaps in bringing to the consumer the characters created in the winery was no longer in question. The challenge for proponents of screwcap was to communicate that superiority to consumers, but also to the trade, especially restaurants. More information on the symposium is available on the website www.screwcap.co.nz.

© Terry Dunleavy
17th November 2004.