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NEW NORMAL

screw caps and glass can promote a smell that nemakers can chose corks to work over time
winemakers call reduction. On the less intru- while inside a bottle somewhat like a decanter
sive side, reduction smells a bit like struck would for a just-opened wine. Presto Bingo -
match or sulphur, and it usually fades away it’s about experiencing the same thing in a dif-
quickly. On the unpleasant side, reduction ferent way!
smells like rubber or even rotten eggs, and it
never subsides. THE MOST COMMON WINE CLOSURES

WINE CLOSURES AFFECT WINE’S
AGEABILITY
The different ways of sealing wine bottles
affect the oxygen exchange rate through
that closure. This is important because, as the
famous French scientist Louis Pasteur disco-
vered, oxygen is the principal accelerator of
wine aging. So aside from possible cork taint,
oxygenation potential has become one of the
most dynamic criteria for choosing alternative Natural, or Traditional, Wine Cork
or artificial corks in the last two decades. After The original cork and the choice of self-pro-
all, oxygen is carefully managed throughout claimed purists. Sourced from Quercus suber
the winemaking process, so why wouldn’t it oaks, primarily from the Iberian Peninsula -
be considered once the wine is ready to ship especially Portugal - and North Africa. Trees
to the consumer? must be a quarter of a century old before their
bark can be “harvested” then can be stripped
Oxygen affects the colour, aroma and only once every nine years. Stripping does not

mouthfeel of wines harm the trees.
Colour – Too much oxygen can promote PROS +
premature browning. Think of a cut apple oxi- z Excellent “breathability”
dizing. z Comes in different quality (and price) le-
Aroma – Just enough oxygen can encou- vels as well as lengths, with longer ones avai-
rage attractive development in young wines. lable for age-worthy wines and wider ones for
Too much causes oxidization, which flattens larger format wines
and subdues the nose’s vibrancy.
Mouthfeel – A Goldilocks-like amount of
oxygen enhances the palate by softening it,
especially in tannin-rich wines.
Knowing this, winemakers try to hit their wi-
nes’ optimum drinking windows. That’s to say
that they try to make sure that the bottle you
open today drinks as well as it can. For most
cork alternatives, a winemaker can chose an
ideal oxygen transferability rate. The result is
that the same wine bottled with closures of-
fering different oxygen transferability rates
could be scheduled to peak in, say, six, 12
and 24 months post-release. Effectively, wi-
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