News & Updates

This accompanying table offers a remarkable snapshot of the closures used for the table wines submitted this year. Those who suggest that screwcaps are inferior to other closures are clearly out of step.



The apologists for cork are alive and well outside Australia and (largely) New Zealand, including some – such as Jamie Goode – who should know better. Those apologists talk of it being a natural product (correct, and that means no two corks are precisely the same) and of the much reduced – though not eliminated – incidence of cork taint. The latter point is correct, simply because the Portuguese realised they had to completely change the manufacturing process or lose their market forever.

However, the defenders of cork ignore the elephant in the room – the issue of sporadic (random) oxidation, which remains as big a problem as ever. Ask the Hunter Valley winemakers who held semillon in perfect storage conditions for five years before releasing it. Brokenwood, McWilliam’s and Tyrrell’s all say a third of the b tles with cork closures showed accelerated colour development, which correlated precisely with unacceptable oxidation. Moreover, having cleared the remaining two thirds, the same problem may reoccur, although with a lower failure rate.

Nor is the problem limited to Australian white wines. Makers of white Burgundy have had a torrid time since the second half of the 1980s. Thus American author Bill Nanson in his excellent book The Finest Wines of Burgundy (Fine Wine Editions, 2012) says in his vintage chart: “The pervasive influence of oxidised bottles renders this period (1994 to 2004 inclusive) a complete lottery. Spend only what you can afford to lose.”

While I have referred to semillon, all Australian white wines sealed with corks are prone to oxidation. So are reds, although it takes longer, affects fewer bottles and is not as obvious. The British wine trade recognised the issue 80 years ago with the saying: “There are no great old wines, only great old bottles.”

Finally, if you have a cellar as large as ne (and as neglected), there is the small matter of outright failure of corks leading to the slow or not-so-slow loss of wine from the bottle, leaking all over those beneath it, and on to the floor. Do I hate corks? You bet.

Article featured on James Halliday’s website

Author: Lynda Walsh, Wine Cellaring Business Development Manager, Kennards Self Storage