Cork and Screw cap Comparison

With all these international visitors working here, we’ve taken the opportunity to taste a variety of wines with them and perhaps the most interesting was a comparative tasting comparing our earliest bottling using screwcaps, with the same wine under cork. The wines were Moss Wood 2002 Semillon, screwcap and cork; Moss Wood 2002 Chardonnay under screwcap, paired with Moss Wood 2001 Chardonnay under cork (we have no ’02 Chardonnay left under cork); Moss Wood 2001 Pinot Noir, screwcap and cork; Moss Wood 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, screwcap and cork. All the wines had been cellared under exactly the same conditions, side by side, here at the winery.

The results were as expected, if somewhat disappointing, because of the poor performance of cork. The 2002 Semillon was “corked” and the 2001 Chardonnay, while still nice to drink, was prematurely aged as a result of random oxidation. Although it was not part of a comparative tasting, we tried a bottle of the Moss Wood 1998 “Glenmore Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, to demonstrate the aging potential of our Amy’s wine. Unfortunately, this was also corked.

We first moved away from corks in 2002 because we had become so frustrated with exactly these sorts of problems and we knew that properly applied screwcaps were a good solution. By that time, they had a track record of being able to successfully close wines for at least 20 years. However, we were not completely sure about how quickly the wines would age, although anecdotal evidence suggested that they would. Tasting these wines has yet again highlighted exactly why we chose to move away from the traditional closure. All of the examples under screw caps had retained good primary fruit aromas but had also begun to develop typical bottle bouquet.

Despite our own concerns about cork, we hasten to add that we understand wine has a long-standing tradition of being sealed by corks and we continue to produce a small percentage of Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon for those customers who prefer this.