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The Italian winegrowers Franz Haas (South Tyrol), Graziano Prà (Veneto), Silvio Jermann (Friuli), Mario Pojer (Trentino) and Walter Massa (Piedmont) have joined forces to combat the poor image of screwcaps. They formed a group called "Gli Svitati" last year. With their commitment, they want to convince Italian producers in particular of the advantages of the screw cap, while at the same time analysing the prejudices of end consumers and the associated sales problems. While the screw cap is accepted as a quality closure in many countries, Italian winegrowers have been very conservative to date.
"However, a lot has changed since last year and our commitment is making itself felt. We are increasingly convinced that our choice is the right one for our wines. White wine producers are generally more open to the use of screw caps. Now it's time to focus on red wines too," said the winegrowers' group at a meeting with top sommeliers in Bergamo at the beginning of March. Barolo producer Ettore Germano was also present, who is one of the few in Italy to have been producing a Barolo with a screw cap for several years and is conducting various experiments.
"We can no longer just talk about the romance of opening the bottle. A sommelier is not just there for that, he has to pay attention to quality. The revolution starts with the wineries, but goes through us to the end consumer: if the screw cap preserves the wine better and the winemaker is convinced of this, we have to communicate this development to the guest," said one of the participating sommeliers.
The specifications of the individual appellations were also discussed. Screw caps have not yet been authorised for many DOC and DOCG wines. The group demanded that the responsible consortia should do more to promote the corresponding changes.
(ru / press release)