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New research by wine closure manufacturers shows that wines benefit from different closures depending on their phenolic structure. The cork company MA Silva from Portugal has analysed 1,000 chemical compounds in wines to find out how different wines behave under the influence of different closures during storage. Previously, the upper limit was 150 compounds analysed. The ongoing research suggests that not all fine wines would benefit from natural corks, even with longer ageing, and not all entry-level wines perform best with screwcaps. For wines with a certain chemical composition, agglomerate corks could also produce the best results.
Each wine has an individual expression due to its chemical composition, similar to a fingerprint. The optimum closure can therefore also vary from vintage to vintage, depending on the weather, the composition of grape varieties in cuvées or adjustments made during vinification.
Nuno Silva, Head of Marketing at MA Silva, aims to "adapt the type of closure to the profile of the wine, with a recommendation that is as close as possible to the winemaker's intention". Catherine Fontinha, Head of Marketing at Amcor, the packaging company that produces the Stelvin screwcaps, says: "The decision now is about which closure is most beneficial for the wine, which emphasises the organoleptic characteristics of the product and how best to preserve the aromas for that particular expression." The idea of the superiority or inferiority of one type of closure must be questioned. The focus needs to be on which closure is best suited to a particular style of wine and its chemical composition.
(al / Source: drinksbusiness.com)