The Wine Curmudgeon

Screwcaps: More in use, and more accepted than ever

Two recent studies show that consumers and wineries really don't mind screwcaps -- actually like them, believe it or not -- despite the best efforts of the cork business to convince us otherwise. More, after the jump:

Winebits 177: Cork and closure edition

Higlighting news in the world of corks and screwcaps:

• Portuguese producer goes screwcap: Decanter reports that Portuguese producer Sogrape is putting one of its biggest wines, a $15 vinho verde, under screwcap. Given that Portugal in the world's largest cork producer, that's the equivalent of the Wine Curmudgeon moving to Napa and giving up the blog to do PR for a winery that makes high-alcohol, over-priced wine. Said one importer: "For the biggest wine company in Portugal to do this is quite rare. It’s a slightly maverick, and quite a brave, move. It might not be well-received by the rest of the industry."

• But cork isn't dead, right? Not according to our friends at the Cork Quality Council, who remind us that wine with screwcaps and plastic closures are dying on the shelf. It quotes Nielsen data that notes sales of the top 100 domestic premium wine brands with corks increased 13.8 percent in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 5 over the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, those evil screwcap and plastic stopper wines "tumbled" 13.1 percent during the same period. But before you go open a bottle of bubbly to toast cork's comeback, know that those figures exclude imports, which means no New Zealand wines -- almost all of which have have screwcaps -- were included. And, as Decanter pointed out in the previous story, cork accounted for two-thirds of the wine closures sold in 2009, compared to its 95 percent share at the beginning of the century. So one quarter's worth of data probably isn't too significant.

• Even plastic corks want to be recycled: Or, as that part of the industry prefers to be called, synthetic closures. Nomacorc, which dominates the synthetic side of the business, is sponsoring a recycling project with Total Wine & More, which has 73 stores in 11 states. Wine drinkers can drop off their Nomacorc closures, as well as other synthetic and real corks, and they'll be converted into what the company calls "eco-friendly cork boards."

More natural cork foolishness

The natural cork business has spent the past year spending millions of dollars to convince consumers that cork is not only the perfect closure for wine, but will save the environment. This campaign is strikingly odd, and not just because it glosses over cork's efficacy as a closure. Which, as noted, isn't good.

As Decanter's Adam Lechmere wrote: "The statement's sentiments are as suspect as its syntax. It demonstrates once again that the cork industry's grasp on the realities of public relations is as shaky as ever."

A friend of mine, who does cork marketing, said that the biggest problem with the cork campaign is not just that it's an unusual approach. The problem is that even if it wasn't unusual, it would still be difficult to accomplish successfully. The cork industry is asking consumers to buy wine based on the closure, and not what's in the bottle. How impractical is that? More, and an amazingly dumb video, after the jump:

Why I don't like wine corks -- still

We can write all we want about how the quality of corks has improved, and the cork business can run campaigns and talk about how much effort they've made to improve the quality of corks.

But that doesn't alter one unalterable fact: Cork is not the best wine closure. I was reminded of that Saturday night, when I opened a bottle of white Burgundy (chardonnay from the Burgundy region of France) and was overwhelmed with the smell of a damp basement. The wine, a Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin La Princée 2006, was corked, and I had to dump it.

My irritation -- no, it was more than that -- was not because the wine was particularly expensive or because I had paid for it or even because it was one of my favorites. It was, for white Burgundy, moderately priced at $22, and I had never had a Lamy before. I just like white Burgundy, this was in the store, and I had bought it.

What happened, and what it means, after the jump:

Are wine corks fashionable again? Part II

Tina Caputo, the editor at Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, had an interesting assignment for me: Has the media perception of corks changed over the past several years?

Her point, and it was a good one, was that the Winestream Media was quick to hop on the anti-cork bandwagon, and that its efforts played a key role in detailing the problems that cork had with the industry and with consumers. But now that cork has improved, is the media reporting that?

It's not news that cork wine closures had quality problems. Failure rates were as high as 10 percent, according to some studies. If 1 out of 10 bottles of ketchup were off because the closure failed, there'd be a federal investigation. But it wasn't until the mainstream wine media picked up the failure story that the cork industry started to fix things. Now that the quality of corks has improved -- and even its harshest critics think it has -- has the media covered that?

The answer, which appeared in my story in the May/June issue of VWM? Not really. The story isn't available online, so I covered the highlights Thursday and today. Today, after the jump, why so few people are writing about cork's improvements. Thursday detailed cork's quality problems, and why they seem to be over.

Are wine corks fashionable again? Part I

Tina Caputo, the editor at Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, had an interesting assignment for me: Has the media perception of corks changed over the past several years?

Her point, and it was a good one, was that the Winestream Media was quick to hop on the anti-cork bandwagon, and that its efforts played a key role in detailing the problems that cork had with the industry and with consumers. But now that cork has improved, is the media reporting that?

It's not news that cork wine closures had quality problems. Failure rates were as high as 10 percent, according to some studies. If 1 out of 10 bottles of ketchup were off because the closure failed, there'd be a federal investigation. But it wasn't until the mainstream wine media picked up the failure story that the cork industry started to fix things. Now that the quality of corks has improved -- and even its harshest critics think it has -- has the media covered that?

The answer, which appeared in my story in the May/June issue of VWM? Not really. The story isn't available online, so I'll hit the highlights today and Friday. Today, after the jump, cork's problems and the improvement in quality. Friday, why so few people are writing about it.

Wine review: Hey Mambo Swanky White 2007

This has been, for the past couple of vintages, a decent enough white wine blend. And then someone at The Other Guys, the subsidiary of Don Sebastiani & Sons (think Smoking Loon) that produces the wine and a Hey Mambo red, had a great idea: Use more viognier and chenin blanc and less sauvignon blanc. (And we know how much the Wine Curmudeon appreciates viognier and chenin blanc).

The result is impressive. Look for a fresh, apricot fruity and juicy wine that isn’t sweet and has enough zing to stand up to most white wine foods. It reminded me of many of the cheap and well-made Gascogne wines that have showed up over the past couple of years. The suggested retail price is $13, so it may be available for as little as $10.99 in some parts of the country.

And yes, that’s a Zork closure.

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