Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/501762
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a y - J u n e 2 015 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 4 5 He ultimately conducted an experiment using several different types of closures. "We bottled some of our '09 Pinot Noir with Saran Tin, Saranex and cork," Miller said. "So far we cannot tell any difference between the screwcap wines, but the cork wines in blind tests have been the least preferred." Miller ultimately decided to go forward with screwcaps for all of his wines, which range in price from $22 to $42. "You get an amount of air into the bottle that you can control," he said. "The cork doesn't have to remain wet so you $0.15 a cork rather than $0.50 to over $1 a piece," Signorello said. "There's quite a bit of savings there, and for the zero to 10-year outlook, it's perfect." He said he's been satisfied with the results. "It looks almost like real cork," Signorello said. "The wines that are five to 10 years old now are holding up nicely." Con- sumer acceptance has been high in North America, but not in overseas markets. "The biggest issue is that we sell our wine in Asia, and they all want real cork,'" Signorello said. "In the U.S. and Canada, there's no problem with it." While Signorello is happy using synthetic corks, he doesn't expect to make closure changes on his h i g h e r- e n d w i n e s . " S i g n o r e l l o Estate wines always have been and I think probably always will be natu- ral cork," he said. CORK TO SCREWCAPS TO GLASS James Mantone at Syncline Wine Cellars in Lyle, Wash., start- ed using screwcaps on his white wines in 2003 after becoming frus- trated with the high incidence of cork taint. "Things are night and day from when we first used screwcaps in '03," Mantone said of consumers' perception of screwcaps. "There was definitely resistance back then. Now, especially with white wines, I don't find any pushback at all." Mantone said using screwcaps led to changes in his winemaking. "We had to learn about making the wine to adapt to the closure," he said. "You have to really avoid reduction issues going into the bot- tle. We had to change our SO2 lev- els that we go into the bottle with." The winery continues to experi- ment with different types of screw- caps, recently bottling the same wine with three versions from Vin- Perfect, four versions from Stelvin, as well as the Saran and Saran Tin screwcaps. "It's an ongoing proj- ect," Mantone said. For his high-end reds, which retail from $30 to $60, Mantone started using the Vinolok (also called Vino-Seal) glass stoppers don't have to worry about keeping the bottle on its side as it ages, and every bottle in the case is more or less the same." Miller said he has received no pushback from customers since making the decision. "People appre- ciate the convenience, and every- one has had a cork break when they take it out of the bottle," he said. "Not to mention cork taint." While some wineries choose to bottle their wines designed for short-term aging under screwcaps and leave their higher-end wines under cork, Miller doesn't follow the logic. "Who wants to store a wine for 10 or 20 years and open it and find out it's corked?" he asked. NATURAL CORK TO SYNTHETIC STOPPERS For Ray Signorello, who makes wines in California under the Signo- rello Estates, Edge, Fuse and Trim labels, cost was the main driver for switching to synthetic corks. "The Edge wine was a Napa Cabernet at $20 retail," Signo- rello said. "The cost of making the wine is so high that I had to look at every angle I could to keep the cost down. I felt that natural cork was just too expensive and also the failure rate was somewhat high, especially when we had to buy inexpensive real cork." Signorello started out using Supremecorq stoppers and is now using Nomacorc closures. "I could ensure a good wine with a 0% failure rate with the price-point at Joe Miller of Rexford Winery switched from natural cork to screwcaps. + There are a number of reasons why wineries pursue alternatives to their current closures. + Wineries looking at alternatives often experiment with various solutions, which may require changes in winemaking practices. + While some seem happy with the alternatives they have chosen, others continue to experiment and some turn back to cork. + Ultimately the decision on closure type is both a winemaking and business decision. AT A GLANCE