Topping It Off

Maybe you’ve noticed recently that good wine doesn’t always come with a cork. Screw tops, synthetic corks and even glass closures are finding their way into the fine wine market. Does it matter how your wine is sealed?

Wine purists used to insist on cork, but as natural cork is depleted and quality control becomes more difficult, new products are popping up around the world.

We surveyed the field and found that no one topper seals the deal best. Here’s what you need to know:

Why do wine closures matter?

• Wine closures seal the bottle and keep out damaging oxygen.
• A teensy weensy amount of oxygenation can build character in wine that is going to be kept for more than a couple years. Natural cork allows this to happen, but most synthetic closures don’t.

To cork or not to cork?

• Since the 17th century, cork from the Mediterranean, North African, Spanish and Portuguese oak-like cork tree has been processed to create wine bottle corks. Sniffing and examining the cork before tasting a wine is a part of the old school protocol, as is the “pop” of cork removal.
• Cork is a limited natural resource, so as wine production increases worldwide, availability of high quality cork is decreasing.
• Cork can be “tainted” by a fungus-produced compound called TCA that grows in cork fiber. Bad corks may taint as many as one in 10 bottles. When this happens, the wine is “corked,” as in, “you don’t want to drink it!”

Cork alternatives:

• Synthetic corks seal about nine percent of the 17 billion bottles of wine produced each year. These look-alikes to natural cork act as plugs made of plastic compounds.
• Screw caps, which are made from aluminum, can be lined with a variety of materials. These caps can protect wine for up to ten years. TastingRoom.com uses such caps to enclose their 50ml sampler bottles which are designed to be consumed within three months or so.
• Plastic/glass closures are gaining popularity in the European market. A glass stopper with an inert o-ring creates a hermetic seal that prevents both oxidation and tainting. Inserting glass closures is expensive, though, and requires manual bottling.
• The Zork, invented in Australia, seals like a screw top, but pops as if it were a cork. The outer cap is tamper proof, an inner foil keeps out oxygen, and you still get a “pop” on removal.

Storing opened wine

Remember that heat and oxygen are the enemies of your wine. Once the bottle is open, you’ll want to re-cork it as tightly as possible before putting it away.

White wine is best kept in the refrigerator to slow oxidation.

Red wine should also be tightly re-corked, but can be kept in any cool, dark place for a couple days.

How long will it keep?

Whether it is red or white, if you want to keep your open wine longer than three days, consider buying a vacuum pump that will pump out the oxygen before you re-seal the bottle. It will be well worth your investment.