CORK, SCREW CAP and CO. – Wine in 10

Hi my name is constantin baum and i’m a Master of wine when it comes to Packaging wine there are very few Options available to the wine maker most Wine is sold In glass bottles and is labeled with Paper labels and when it came to sealing The bottle For a long time there was also only one Real option which was this year a Natural cork But this has changed over the last few Decades and today there are lots of Different closures On the market at the same time there’s Quite a lot of confusion when it comes To All of those different closures so i Want to talk about the most important Wine closures When i give you my pros and cons and my Own opinion on this whole topic So this is going to get geeky if you’re Not into this then maybe Sit this one out if you are then let’s Go [Music] The most important closure for wine is The cork no questions about this quark Was first used In ancient greece in ancient egypt in Order to seal and forest but it became Really popular When glass bottles became more widely

Used people first used Glass stoppers but then decided that Cork is much more useful They just push it in half way so that They could pull it out With their hand but after a while they Decided that it’s better to put the cork In Entirely and then they had to make a new Invention which was this year a Corkscrew cork was such a success Because it’s an amazing substance It’s a natural product that mainly grows In portugal spain in north africa And it can be harvested from the cork Tree kratz’s super Whose bark one can take off like a Jacket without hurting the tree After roughly 20 years the cork bark can Be harvested from the tree for the first Time and then A tree can be harvested every nine to Ten years but have a look This is a piece of first harvest cork Bark that i got from sardinia This is used for insulation floors and Other applications only after a few Harvests The cork is regular enough in order to Be used for wine bottling the great Thing about cork is that it has a Honeycomb structure of cells that are Extremely flexible a core consists of Hundreds of millions of these cells

Which are filled with gas and when Compressed will return to their Original shape it can resist moisture And does not get easily dissolved by Wine So that it can seal a bottle for decades Cox heals really well but it also allows A little bit of oxygen to enter the Bottle which can improve the aging of The wine It comes at all different price points From a few cents per cork To a few dollars per cork and it also Has the smallest co2 footprint of all Closures Another important reason for the use of Cork which is often overlooked by Experts but which is probably the most Important reason is that popping a cork Has become a cherished tradition For consumers cork is part of the Culture of Wine but cork also has some problems Really big problems the most famous Issue with corp is so closely linked to The product that it is commonly referred To as corked A corked wine smells musty some refer to It as Moldy cardboard or old basement i Personally am Very sensible to cork and i find it hard To compare it to anything else for me it Just smells corked when a taster says

The one is corked what they’re really Saying is that the one is contaminated With the substance 246 trichloroanesol tca for short Tca is the most famous substance but There are others that can develop in Cork And contaminate the wine such as tba and Teca Tca can also get into the wine without a Cork In the winery for example but this is Very rare tca and cog trees mainly Develops When microbes break down chlorine and Even though it’s not harmful to humans All it takes to spoil The smell and the taste of a wine is a Tiny tiny amount The human threshold level for it is Between two and six nanograms per liter Which is the equivalent Of one drop of water in a small lake tca Is probably one of the few chemical Compounds that most wine geeks can name By their full name but it is a pretty Recent discovery Only in the 1980s was the connection Between cork taint and tca Fully established out of interest i Looked at my 1983 version of eu Johnson’s wine companion And he writes the only thing that Occasionally goes wrong with a cork

Is a musty smell that develops Unaccountably corks are carefully Sterilized in manufacture but sometimes One or two of the many cells That make up the cork are infected with Fungus He also writes that one champagne house Calculates the risk of a corked wine At 0.13 when wine consumption increased In the late 20s and early 21st century Cocktail was on everyone’s mind large Tastings for wine competitions and wine Magazines in the early 2000s Showed that between three and six Percent of all of the wines Were corked think about this roughly Five percent of all of the wine was Contaminated by the closure that’s a Huge amount What is really surprising is that not All producers of wine drop cork straight Away If a wrapping paper of a chocolate bar Would make the chocolate taste like dog Poop Producers of chocolate would probably Wrap that chocolate in something else Right but wine is still around and that Is because it has some great advantages Too and it is So well liked talking about liking stuff If you like this video then please Like it down here and subscribe to my Channel thanks the cork industry really

Has improved their processes since then And in my experience the risk of having A corked wine is far lower than five Percent One producer puts it at less than one Percent there are different methods in Place today to screen corks for tca Or to remove it from cork or cork Granules even though the koch industry Has worked hard in order to reduce The risk of tca taint the market share Of cork has dropped Significantly in 2016 roughly 64 of all wines were bottled Under cork 25 percent were bottled under Screw cap And 11 used plastic stoppers i’m not a Big fan of plastic corks because they Are mainly used Because they are cheap and tca free Apart from that they are underperforming In all categories Compared to their competitors they have A high oxygen transmission rate Because they do not expand like cork and Therefore are not good for storing wine For a longer period they have a higher Carbon emission rate than cork They produce plastic waste and they can Most notably Also affect the flavor of the wine also It feels like They are cheating you they want you to Believe that they are cork but as soon

As you pull them out You realize that you’ve been tricked There are also some higher end producers Who use plastic corks like franco nelson And lauren ponceau who use this Idea and plastic stopper but i was Really surprised When frank nilsson showed me everything He does in order to make sure that his Wine is as natural as possible and then He told me That he’s using a plastic stopper this Vinolog glass stopper is also really a Plastic stopper because the seal is made Of plastic I wouldn’t use this at my winery but i Like the way it looks and i often use it At home For resealing open bottles temporarily a Closure that has become really Successful over the last few decades is The screw cap it’s very popular in Places like australia and new zealand But you can find it in pretty much every Wine growing region Of the world i like the way it makes it Easy to open and close a bottle So this is a big big plus for the screw Cap they cost between 20 and 40 cents Which means that they are more expensive Than the cheapest corks But cheaper than the most expensive ones And you don’t have to buy a capsule Depending on the lining of the cap they

Can keep oxygen transmission rates to a Minimum Which means that young fresh and fruity Wines stay fresh for a longer time But some wines that need some air while Aging don’t age As well which isn’t a problem for 95 to 99 Of all wines that don’t need any aging Screw gaps are very consistent but small Damages to the cap during bottling or Transport Can impact the reliability of the Closure and can lead to premature Oxidation screw caps have the most Negative environmental impact as they Have a big Co2 footprint and produce relatively High levels of waste But overall i like screw caps especially For young fresh and fruit driven white Wines Overall everyone would agree that the Closure has an impact On the expression of the wine but just Like the use of stainless steel or barix In the winery it’s not really a Qualitative choice But rather a stylistic one competition Is good for the industry and rather than Following dogma It would be good to experiment and Decide based on the outcome so thank you For watching if you like this video

Then please like it down here subscribe To my channel obviously My question of the day is which closures Do you like and which ones don’t you Like and why Just comment down below and as usual Stay thirsty