Screwcaps are closures made from tin or aluminum material that affixes with threads on the bottleneck. They are the predominant closure used by New Zealand wineries.
Closure
The device used to seal a wine bottle, usually a cork.
Cold Stabilization
Chilling wine before bottling to remove potassium acid tartrate crystals or other sediment from the finished wine.
Disclosure
Some of the wines sampled were provided for review.
Suggested Reading
Red Wine 101
Wine Basics
Intro. to White Wines ...
Original closures
It was impossible to say if any of the wine's original stopper was superior as, in terms of how the wines developed, more seemed to depend on the wine than the closure.
"Stelvin Closure": The most widely used brand of screw cap.
"Table Wine": General terminology for wine that is not fortified, sparkling, ...
Synthetic Closure
Another way of saying plastic cork that overcomes tainting problems caused by traditional wooden corks.
Syphon (Siphon)
A long plastic tube used for racking and bottling the wine. See Wine Making Equipment for a photograph.
Synthetic closure
The posh phrase for plastic cork. The intention is to prevent cork taint. For more information see my information pages on corks and screwcaps and faulty wines ...
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The traditional closure for wines around the world but now largely replaced by screwcaps in Australia, New Zealand and more enlightened countries.
Alternative wine closures - Various substitutes used in the wine industry for sealing wine bottles in place of traditional cork closures.
Amphora - A type of ceramic vase, used for transporting and storing wine in ancient times.
Why are wine bottle closures important? Because they are needed to seal the bottle and protect the wine from damaging oxygen. Cork has served its purpose admirably for several centuries. But corks are imperfect and fallible.
Said to affect 5%% of bottles (some say more, some less) it is one of the main reasons behind the drive towards the increasing use of screwcaps and synthetic closures.
This twist-off Australian Shiraz has many more positives in addition to its closure. Right off the bat, your nose is smacked with wide open aromas of grape jelly, jam, ripe mulberry, blueberry, and raspberry, with hints of black pepper and earth.
- Cork fights back Standing firm against the new wave of alternative closures, a major Portuguese cork-maker makes a case for natural cork as the best way to bottle fine wines ... provided it's done right.
Recently, a growing number of wine producers have been using alternative closures such as screwcaps or synthetic plastic "corks".
It is for this reason that alternative wine bottle closures have been tested in recent years, but the use of non-cork closures has been resisted by traditionalists. Any closure that seals the bottle airtight is a perfect one for wine.
Bung: The primary closure for barrels, hammered into place with a wooden hammer. Bungs are normally made of hardwood (but softer than the oak used for barrel staves to avoid damaging the bunghole when opening and closing the barrel).
Composite Cork: Any wine closure which consists of pieces of cork which have been glued together.
Finally, although corks had already been used by the Romans as closures for wine bottles, and the seagoing and trading English had corks and made sparkling wine several decades earlier than the landlocked Champagne area, ...
Stelvin: A more cost effective alternative to the traditional cork closure for wine bottles (which is a limited resource made from the sap of the endangered cork tree), ...
Cork was developed as a bottle closure in the late 17th century. It was only after this that bottles were lain down for aging, and the bottle shapes slowly changed from short and bulbous to tall and slender.
A Comparison of Wine Bottle Closures [05/09]
Wine Trivia, A poem, & Other Fascinating Stuff [ongoing]
Q & A [ongoing] ...
Screwcap
A screwcap is a type of alternative metal, plastic or rubber cap to cork wine closure that screws on the neck of a bottle. One popular brand is the Stelvin cap.
The cork problem is the reason behind many wineries switching to synthetic closures or screw caps, which are now widely used with aromatic varietals like Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. So don't be put off is you see a screw cap on your wine.
bottles, often featured either at or near the check-out register for an impulse buy. They are perfect for the wine lover who simply wishes to have a glass - nothing more, nothing less. They use a screw top closure, ...
The air space between the surface of the wine and the bottom of the bung, cork or other closure.
Varietal character
The aromas and taste sensations typical of a particular grape variety.
Vegetal ...
 See also: Wine, Bottle, Grape, White, Red
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