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Feature Article
Are those old cork sealed bottles in your cellar losing their regional character? A new argument for switching over to screwcaps.
Preserving Terroir character with Screwcaps
"...screwcaps appear to retain terroir characteristics better than do corks."
by
Dan Berger
October 19, 2006
Connections between seemingly disparate things often form the basis for trivia games, and a few weeks ago I was witness to an oddity that I had never anticipated. But the conclusion was fascinating.
That is: screwcaps appear to retain terroir characteristics better than do corks. This not-very-obvious conclusion was drawn following a blind tasting of Syrahs from a small Santa Barbara County winery.
Four Syrahs from Van Enoo Vineyards were placed in the tasting blind, a 2001 with a cork and three wines sealed with screwcaps -- a 2001, a 2002, and a 2003. The wines were served randomly to four expert tasters. The aim was not to find the best wine, but to see if the 2001 screwcapped wine and its cork-finished counterpart could be identified.
As it turned out, the first wine served displayed a classic regional character from the coolish western edge of the Santa Ynez Valley -- a distinctive black pepper and clove component. And so did the third glass.
Based on that, I judged that (a) glasses 1 and 3 both were the 2001 wine and that (b) there was little difference between the cork-finished and screw-capped versions. What little difference we saw among the two glasses was that the third glass had a tad more fruit, so we assumed it was the 2001 with the screwcap and the first glass was the 2001 with a cork.
What we learned was fascinating: the first glass was the 2001 with the screwcap, and the third glass was actually from the 2003 vintage. That wine also displayed the same terroir-driven pepper/clove notes as the first glass.
However, the fourth glass, which contained the 2001 Syrah with a cork, had changed, and not for the better. The distinctive component that we could discern easily in the 2001 from the capped bottle and the 2003 (also capped), was nearly obliterated in the 2001 with the cork.
The 2001 with the cork had obviously matured a lot faster; it was now but a shadow of its former bright, beguiling self. There was nothing wrong with the wine. The loss of regional character hadn’t harmed its varietal lilt: it was still pretty much a Syrah in nature.
However, the element that made it so intriguing when it was young -- that cooler-climate, peppery, clove-y note -- was gone with aging on the cork, removing from the wine one of the elements that made it worth buying in the first place.
The 2003 Van Enoo Vineyards Syrah from the same Santa Ynez Valley vineyard remains available to consumers at $30 a bottle. For details on the wine, contact David Cane at 415-499-9989 or log onto www.vanenoo.com.
The 2001, 2002, and 2003 Van Enoo wines were made by Bruno d’Alfonso, formerly of Sanford, who is now making wines under the new brand Badge.
To purchase other Syrahs with a "Taste of Place" visit the Appellation America On-Line Wine Store.
~ Dan Berger, Editor-at-Large
To comment on Dan Berger’s writings and thoughts, contact him at d.berger@appellationamerica.com
That is: screwcaps appear to retain terroir characteristics better than do corks. This not-very-obvious conclusion was drawn following a blind tasting of Syrahs from a small Santa Barbara County winery.
Four Syrahs from Van Enoo Vineyards were placed in the tasting blind, a 2001 with a cork and three wines sealed with screwcaps -- a 2001, a 2002, and a 2003. The wines were served randomly to four expert tasters. The aim was not to find the best wine, but to see if the 2001 screwcapped wine and its cork-finished counterpart could be identified.
As it turned out, the first wine served displayed a classic regional character from the coolish western edge of the Santa Ynez Valley -- a distinctive black pepper and clove component. And so did the third glass.
Based on that, I judged that (a) glasses 1 and 3 both were the 2001 wine and that (b) there was little difference between the cork-finished and screw-capped versions. What little difference we saw among the two glasses was that the third glass had a tad more fruit, so we assumed it was the 2001 with the screwcap and the first glass was the 2001 with a cork.
What we learned was fascinating: the first glass was the 2001 with the screwcap, and the third glass was actually from the 2003 vintage. That wine also displayed the same terroir-driven pepper/clove notes as the first glass.
However, the fourth glass, which contained the 2001 Syrah with a cork, had changed, and not for the better. The distinctive component that we could discern easily in the 2001 from the capped bottle and the 2003 (also capped), was nearly obliterated in the 2001 with the cork.
The 2001 with the cork had obviously matured a lot faster; it was now but a shadow of its former bright, beguiling self. There was nothing wrong with the wine. The loss of regional character hadn’t harmed its varietal lilt: it was still pretty much a Syrah in nature.
However, the element that made it so intriguing when it was young -- that cooler-climate, peppery, clove-y note -- was gone with aging on the cork, removing from the wine one of the elements that made it worth buying in the first place.
The 2003 Van Enoo Vineyards Syrah from the same Santa Ynez Valley vineyard remains available to consumers at $30 a bottle. For details on the wine, contact David Cane at 415-499-9989 or log onto www.vanenoo.com.
The 2001, 2002, and 2003 Van Enoo wines were made by Bruno d’Alfonso, formerly of Sanford, who is now making wines under the new brand Badge.
To purchase other Syrahs with a "Taste of Place" visit the Appellation America On-Line Wine Store.
~ Dan Berger, Editor-at-Large
To comment on Dan Berger’s writings and thoughts, contact him at d.berger@appellationamerica.com
