Currency Creek Rose, Jack Mann 01, Moss Wood Cab 05

Andrew

I have been a serious wine collector for 40 years and am located in California. I am writing about your Moss Wood Cab note which seems to indicate that this wine would withstand extended aging even though it has a screwcap closure. Can you share any specifics on srewcapped wines you have charted over time and their relevant tasting notes over that time?
I am firmly on the side of natural cork closures even with the risks of “corked” wines because those wines seem to evolve better in the cellar. Thanks for the great posts.

Jim Ryan

Hi Jim,

You pose what can be quite a challenging question to answer. Challenging not for the need of specifics, but more for the restraints of time.

The use of screwcaps as a commercial closure for wine packaging can be traced back to the early 60's, where it was first pioneered by a group of Swiss winemakers who had problems with cork taint. The backing also came on the Australian front by the Yalumba wine company, who debuted the technology in particular on some of its Rieslings – one reason why Australia (& Australian Riesling in particular) is considered to be the epicentre of screwcap activity. Indeed there is (reputedly) a bottle of 1976 Pewsey Vale Riesling in the Yalumba cellars with the tag: 'This is the first bottle of commercially packaged wine in Australia with a Stelvin closure – May 1976'

The use of screwcaps then was largely phased out in Australia by the early 1980's, mainly due to conservative public opinion, they where similarly relegated to low end budget wines in the US, thus associating screwcaps with cheap wines in the process.

It was not until the year 2000 in particular, when a group of Clare Valley winemakers banded together to bottle their Riesling wines under screwcap 'en masse' that restarted the move back to screwcaps.

So the challenge is that unless you can source bottles of late 1970's/early 80's Yalumba Rieslings actually tracking the development of wines under screwcaps over the very long term can prove difficult.

I personally have not had the pleasure of trying one of these old beauties, however I know of several reputable tasters who have and they happily report that they are fresh, yet mature Rieslings still hanging in there 30 years on.

However I have had my own screwcap revelatory experience, which came courtesy of John Vickery – a highly respected pioneer of Australian winemaking, who first championed the use of refrigeration in the winemaking process over 40 years ago.

John is now a consultant winemaker with Pernod Ricard in Australia and has a hand in producing that companies Rieslings, with the experience in question a multi vintage comparison of Richmond Grove Watervale Rieslings over an almost 10 year period.

The wines thus where highly regarded premium wines that had simply been bottled under different closures. Same wine, same bottling day, different closure. The differences between the cork sealed vs the screwcap sealed wines, especially over the longer term, was nothing short of astonishing. The older, late 1990's wines, approaching a decade in age, where all the evidence I needed to be convinced that screwcapped wines both preserve and allow maturation.

The 1998 Richmond Grove Riesling under screwcap was bright, limey & crisp with the toasty richness of typical maturing Clare valley Riesilng coupled with the sort of freshness that only the very finest cork sealed bottles, stored under ideal conditions, will ever achieve. The wine tasted like it still had many years ahead of it.

In contrast the 1998 Richmond Grove Riesling under cork was much more yellow and duller in colour, lacked the freshness of the screwcap example and felt like it was already at full maturity. For the record, both wines had been stored since release in the same temperature controlled conditions and John himself had tasted all the wines before pouring to make sure only the best examples where served.

To further emphasise the message, the 2000 vintage of the same wine tasted fresher still and very primary in the screwcapped example. The cork sealed bottle however had already lost its primary fruit freshness and was beginngin to look more developed and, when placed next to the screwcap sealed bottle, prematurely aged.

As for red wines I can only give the example of a 2000 Grosset Gaia that I had tasted almost a year ago – at 8 yrs of age, this full bodied premium Bordeaux Blend was still a powerhouse of firmly structured, dark berry fruit & leafy Cabernet varietal characters, yet still showing some tertiary mulchy developed characters. Having had the pleasure of trying the same wine on release 6+ years ago I can confirm that it still shows the leafy definition that it did at release.

So in summary, my position on screwcaps and ageing is that screwcaps will allow a wine to mature like the very best corks and I have full confidence in them as a closure, particularly for unoaked white wines (like my beloved Rieslings)

Andrew

Andrew

Thanks for the great, thought-provoking post. I believe I will have to broaden my closure horizons. FYI, rieslings are our favorite white wine too and the dry ones marry excellently with the same foods where others use SB and Chard. We started with Germans 40 years ago but all reislings hold for us. I tend more to well aged reds (probably because I eat too much red meat).

Jim Ryan

Interesting note on the Jack Mann, I have had it twice and once gave it 95pts.. the 2nd time was similar to your experience. I don’t think the wine was any different.. but the nose and palate just has to be ready for an opulent, sensory overload. Opulent, sensory overload usually sounds pretty good to me…. but I know exactly what you mean in your note.

Will the fruit overcome the leather? That is my question….

A very good question. There is none in my cellar to test it out however….