How Do Screwcap Affect Riesling Aging Curves

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Ian Fitzsimmons

Ian Fitzsimmons
The recent Clos Roches Blanches closure thread brushed past this topic, which really deserves its own thread. I read somewhere that screwcaps retard wine aging to a significant extent. What do disorderlies know about their affects on age-worthy rieslings?

I don't have any direct experience myself, except for some Hexamer Quarzit, which seems to have developed just fine. I have a couple bottles of 05 Nigl Privat, though, and 02 Grosset Polish Hill, which worry me.
 
I'll make this short, pending Jamie Goode's entry into the thread.

There's good short-term data that riesling holds better and more consistently under screwcap, but that the wines do age as expected. There's some long-term data that indicates, more strongly, the very same thing. There's a little bit of very long-term data that further demonstrates the same result. Mostly, the idea is that rieslings under screwcap age like they do under the best corks, with very high consistency. (I don't believe there's any evidence that this effect is restricted to riesling, either.)

Most of this data is from Australia, and I'm sure Graeme or someone else could point you towards the data, though a little Googling will probably reveal it as well.

However...

There's also some evidence, though I think it's all weight-of-anecdote at this point, that screwcaps increase the likelihood of reduction in certain wines, which effect would be increased over the long term, and thus prove damaging to the wine no matter the qualities of the screwcap. I don't know if riesling is or is not particularly susceptible. I think it's difficult to say more than that, because the effect isn't always seen, and it can probably be mitigated.*

I've had plenty of rieslings under screwcap, all of which seem to have aged at a slow but non-glacial pace. I've had a few rieslings of significant age under screwcap, and they've been very nice indeed. For more than that, you'll need to wait for the incomplete science, I'm afraid.

* Screwcap liners, which are the actual closure, can be adjusted to provide specified levels of oxygen ingress, which would eliminate the reduction issue. The problem is that since we don't know exactly how much oxygen, if any, is "right" for any given wine to age as we expect, we have no idea what that adjustment should be.
 
originally posted by Thor:

There's good short-term data that riesling holds better and more consistently under screwcap, but that the wines do age as expected. There's some long-term data that indicates, more strongly, the very same thing...

There's also some evidence, though I think it's all weight-of-anecdote at this point, that screwcaps increase the likelihood of reduction in certain wines, which effect would be increased over the long term, and thus prove damaging to the wine no matter the qualities of the screwcap. I don't know if riesling is or is not particularly susceptible. I think it's difficult to say more than that, because the effect isn't always seen, and it can probably be mitigated.*
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My recollection of the parallel aging trials that I have heard about is that screwcaps clearly had both the lowest average rate, and the least variation, in oxidation among all closures.

Not just anecdote, but I believe some theoretical understanding of the reduction-and-screwcap issue is being developed. The last I read up on it, several researchers believed that winemaking practices that reduce the precursors of reduction aromas and take into account the extremely anaerobic conditions of screwcap bottling were the solution.
 
As to oxidation, I think that's true.

As far as reduction, the problem appears to be that some of the current solutions might be no better than the problem they cure (excessive copper, for example).

That said, it seems to me that a lot of the argument about whether or not reduction can be addressed pre-bottling is being conducted between winemakers who'd already staked out positions pro- or anti-. In other words, while I think it will be interesting to see whether a pro-cap winemaker's wines manage to avoid reduction without one of the aforementioned sledgehammer "cures," which would provide anecdotal ammunition for their contention that it's a bottling chemistry issue, I really think that those truly on the fence (and there aren't many, anymore) will need something a little more objective and scientific-methody.

Personally, I'd like to see screwcaps on everything not meant to age more than a few years, without exception. I'm fine with them on wines built for the longer-haul, and own a reasonable number of bottles closed this way, but I certainly understand why a winemaker might not want to make the change, Like everyone I'm eager to see definitive science. Unfortunately, I will have to buy a majority of the wine I'll purchase over my lifetime before that science is concluded, so whatever the result, it will do me little good.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
For nipping the pun in the bud? Or for hating puns? We are legion, the pun-haters. But sometimes we slacken, or nearly....
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Well, for both. Not to be harsh on those who cannot help themselves.
 
Thanks Thor and Christian for the good information and discussion.

Do reductive odors in the bottle irrevocably compromise the wine, or do these wines mend with airing?
 
I've heard yes, no, and it depends, so I'll let people who actually know chemistry wade in here.
 
Personally, I'd like to see screwcaps on everything not meant to age more than a few years, without exception.
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Yes, but then, who makes this decision? The winemaker? The importer? Speaking of changing closures to fit market demand, witness the Clos Roche Blanche gamay from CSW. The importer made a choice to change the closure to accommodate wine geeks who wish to see these age beyond the typical 2-3 year limit of fake cork.
I don't want someone telling me what to cap MY wine with. I say, let the market decide, and let the closures fall where they will. Why not offer choice?
 
Well, the only market I'm really concerned with -- me -- wishes to see screwcaps on everything not meant to age more than a few years. Everyone else is free to make their desires known. And I think the varying answers to those desires are seen in the mix of closures we now have.

Speaking of changing closures to fit market demand
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We were?

who makes this decision?
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The winery, obviously. Who else? Sure, they might be prodded by another entity, but ultimately the winery has to choose.

Offering a choice of closures (at least between cork and something unlike cork) is an expensive and time-consuming proposition for a winery. Different bottles, different equipment, separate bottling runs. I don't think it's ever going to be common.
 
I'm very much with Thor on this one. In my marketplace of one, I'd want most short-term wines under screwcap. They are easier to manage, that is to open and reseal, than plastic corks. To me this is a huge advantage. Artificial corks are difficult to remove from the bottle, difficult to remove from one's winekey and difficult to re-seal.

Go cork or screwcap.
 
originally posted by Thor:

who makes this decision?
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The winery, obviously. Who else?
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Technically, yes, but often the situation is really not that way. E.g., Sainsbury, the large UK grocery chain, goes to Alex Gambal in Burgundy and says we'll take x thousand bottles of Bourgogne from you, but only if you bottle them in screwcap. Gambal bottles in screwcap or he doesn't sell. Guess what he did.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Thanks Thor and Christian for the good information and discussion.

Do reductive odors in the bottle irrevocably compromise the wine, or do these wines mend with airing?
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while we're at it, does anyone have a handy definition of what "reductive odors" smell like? and, is the reduction problem solely related to odor and not (or less so) flavors in the wine?
 
originally posted by MarkS:
Personally, I'd like to see screwcaps on everything not meant to age more than a few years, without exception.
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Yes, but then, who makes this decision? The winemaker? The importer? Speaking of changing closures to fit market demand, witness the Clos Roche Blanche gamay from CSW. The importer made a choice to change the closure to accommodate wine geeks who wish to see these age beyond the typical 2-3 year limit of fake cork.
I don't want someone telling me what to cap MY wine with. I say, let the market decide, and let the closures fall where they will. Why not offer choice?
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Its 25 cases to please the geeks here.

I wouldn't exactly call this fitting to market demand.

I'm just being friendly.
 
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