Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/744999
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m N o v - D e c 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 6 3 CHOOSING CLOSURES Steven DeCosta, winemaker at O'Neill Vintners & Distillers in Parlier, Calif., says, "We use most forms of closure — natural, agglomerate, technical, synthetic and screw cap. Each style is paired with a specific variety or price point per brand. We like to use screw caps on white wines to preserve the wine's fresh character as well as lasting shelf life. We prefer technical closures for red wines to allow good maturation in the bot- tle, and it's more affordable than full, natural cork. For entry-level price point red and white wines, we'll use a full agglomerated cork closure. Our standard operating procedure is to match closure type with the specific need of that wine. Factors like variety, taste profile and retail price will continue to shape our decision making." Todd Webster, winemaker at Brennan Vineyards in Comanche, Texas, says, "We use both screw wines are small production — 200 cases or less — and are vineyard- designated lots, so when a custom- er pulls a natural, beautiful two-inch cork out of the bottle, it is, in my opinion, a good first impression and introduction to our wine. Addition- ally, we believe natural cork is the best solution to protect wine qual- ity as it ages. TCA is the biggest downfall of natural cork, and we're doing some experiments to better understand and manage this phe- nomenon." John Martini, co-owner at Antho- ny Road Wine Company in Penn Yan, N.Y., says, "We're currently going to all screw caps — all our 2015 wines will be under such closures. In the future, we may see cork finish on selected wines, depending on pack- age style and availability. But no syn- thetic. We did that many years ago and were unhappy. It's about cork taint, consistency and consumer convenience." McPherson adds, "We use nat- ural corks from M.A. Silva, which has a state-of-the-art manufactur- caps and corks. It used to be pre- dominately corks with very little screw caps. Now, it's probably two-thirds screw caps and one- third corks. We were having a bot- tling issue with one combination of bottle shape and cork closure, and we were having way too many corked bottles. To make things even worse, it was our flagship wine, Viognier. The cork manufac- turer did extensive lab testing to figure out the problem and was very helpful. I decided to change most of our wines to a screw cap for this reason and changed bot- tling lines as well, so all our whites, rosé and a few reds get screw caps. Our high-end red and dessert wines get corks." REASONS FOR CHOICE Joe Shebl, winemaker at Ren- wood Winery in Amador County, Calif., says, "Most of our wines are positioned in the higher-priced mar- ket segments. We always want to convey the quality that's in the bot- tle with the packaging. Many of our Steven DeCosta, winemaker at O'Neill Vintners & Distillers, chooses closures depending on variety and price point per brand. Joe Shebl, winemaker at Renwood Winery, prefers natural cork for the wines he makes. John Martini, co-owner at Anthony Road Wine Company, says the winery is currently moving toward using only screw caps.