Wine Articles | Traditional Corks or Screw Tops

I was working in France as a Sommelier when the first heated conversation about the use of screw tops or traditional cork started 15 years ago now.

Of course most of us were doubtful of such an idea, after all, although the Egyptians were already using cork, it was Dom Perignon in the 17th Century who experimented with a cork stopper to elaborate his Champagne.


In favour of cork there is of course the amazing quality that it has of allowing the wine to continue developing, there are almost 800 million tightly packed cells which stop water from entering the tissue and of course allow the oxygen to get in slowly allowing the complex process of oxidation to happened and make the ageing wine a truly amazing experience.

However, the reality in 2009 is that 90% of the wineries in New Zealand have now turned to screw tops and it could be a challenge to find a cork bottle in a supermarket or Off Licence.

Yet screw tops are also perfectly engineered and preserve the fresh and fruity flavours of a wine; even the French are now packaging their wine from their most prestigious regions with screw tops.

It doesn’t seem like anybody is bothered anymore, the choice of wines available is absolutely fantastic, most of them stocked in shelf ready for immediate consumption and this is where screw top wines have their place.

They are engineered to be consumed in 2 to 3 years with distinct flavours of fruits, not too sharp not too soft. In addition to all this you do not have to try the wine in a restaurant before serving, no more cork taint problems.

For me the main advantage of a screw top is the impact it has on the price of the bottle. Screw tops or plastic corks are less expensive than natural cork so the producers can pass on this saving to us.

However, if tomorrow the cork industry was to collapse, the ecological consequences would be devastating for Portugal. In fact wineries are coming under pressure from the World Wildlife fund (WWF) to return to using cork because of the ecological impact of making vast areas of cork trees redundant. This could threaten one of the most important wildlife habitats in Europe.

The fact is that wines are now made to satisfy our immediate tastes and demands. The identity or terroir slowly disappears and is replaced by fresh fruity flavours, soft tannins and smooth finishes.

But the very essence of wine for me is still their aging faculty, the whole idea that even in the bottle the wine continues to live and to evolve, and that is only due to the interaction that takes place between the wine and the cork.

Author: Alexandre Barrau