Screw That: Debating the Highs and Lows of Stelvin Closures. A.K.A. Screwcaps

Posted 04/20/2009 at 09:47 AM by Cathy

By Adam Centamore

The sight of a bottle of red Bordeaux with a screw cap can be a little discombobulating, almost upsetting to some wine connoisseurs.

What self-respecting winemaker would allow a top vintage from their cellar to sport such an ordinary appendage?

The answer is more and more of them.

And for those who vilify the tidy, efficient aluminum cap, a vinicultural day of reckoning is coming.

The Stelvin closure, as it is officially called, has been a point of contention since it first appeared in the late 1950s, when Australia's Yalumba Winery was among the first to test the newly-created cap produced by French manufacturer Le Bouchage Mecanique.

The mission of the invention was clear: to keep wine in better condition for a longer time by preventing unwanted excess oxygen from seeping into the bottle through the micro-porous cork. It would also eliminate any possibility of cork taint, a rising concern at that time.

Winemakers loved the cap because it kept their product more pristine. Retailers no longer worried about keeping the cork moist and the seal tight. Restaurants loved it because now any waiter could properly open a bottle of wine with just a flick of the wrist.

Even industry titan Robert Parker was on board. "Stelvin, the screw cap of choice, will become the standard for a majority of the world's wines," he announced.

It seemed everyone was accepting of the new technology except one important group.

The consumer.

By the late 1970's, overwhelming consumer rejection resulted in an industry retreat back to the retail safety of corks.

Consumers think the screw cap looks cheap, especially when they're serving wine from the bottle. Many discerning wine drinkers envision a nightmarish scene in which they are at an intimate, candlelight dinner with a potential paramour. The wine is presented. The chemistry of the moment builds more and more until...skrick! The bottle opens with all the ceremony of a Diet Coke.

There is no magic "pop" to announce le vin c'est arrive! There is no cork to keep as a memento of the occasion.

In other words, there is zero sex appeal to opening a Stelvin-topped bottle.

For some, drinking wine is highly cultural, and popping the cork is part of the panache. For this group, screw caps come on 2-liter bottles of soda and jug wines, not on quality bottles of wine costing up to $60.

The general consuming public rarely asks whether or not a screw cap is better for wine. But while the experience provided by a cork may be more enticing, certainly the welfare of the wine inside the bottle needs to be considered.

John Hafferty, co-owner of Bin Ends Wines in Braintree, considers the Stelvin enclosure superior to corks. "Stelvin caps keep the wine in better condition," he said. "Essentially, a properly-made screw cap keeps the wine in stasis, preventing any oxygen from entering the bottle."

Hafferty does concede the appeal of uncorking a bottle. "It is a nice touch to hear the cork pop out of the bottle," he said.

Published academic research supports a similar assessment, with early support coming from one of Australia's foremost wine researchers, Dr. Bryce Rankine. After comparing more than 3,000 bottles with various closures over a seven-year period, Dr. Rankine wrote, "The range of wines examined retained their quality with a Stelvin closure significantly better than with a cork."

Whether academic or anecdotal, the strongest argument for the use of screw caps always involves the preservation of the wine's quality inside the bottle. While unsexy, the Stelvin closure is an improvement over corks when quality is a factor. And really, when isn't quality a factor?

The Stelvin closure has been enjoying a renaissance since the early 1990s, and it is gaining popularity each year, especially in the last decade.

In 2001, 1% of New Zealand wineries were using the closure; in 2004, usage eclipsed 70%. In July of 2004, Corbett Canyon became the first million-plus case winery to exclusively use screw caps, and they currently ship over three million cases a year with the shiny aluminum tops.

While some French and Italian producers are starting to capitulate, it is New World wine producers who are really driving the movement. South Africa, Austria, and even Californian wine makers in Sonoma and Napa Valley are joining Australia and New Zealand in making the Stelvin closure more prevalent than ever before.

While the screw cap will never take the romantic place of corks in our oenophilic hearts, there will come a day when we reach for a bottle of French Chablis or Bordeaux and find the bright, metallic gleam of a Stelvin cap ready to unscrew. We'll twist it off without a second thought, pour the wine and enjoy it as the winemaker intended.

Oh wait. At least for some of us, that's already happening.

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