Why Boutique Vintners Like Alternative Closures

When it comes to experimenting with closures other than cork, there's a growing consensus among smaller producers. Many believe they make too little wine to afford even a handful of cork-tainted wines that could very well alienate a customer forever.

For John Conover, general manager of PlumpJack Winery, the seed was planted 10 years ago over dinner at the PlumpJack Cafe with his bosses, Gavin Newsom and Gordon Getty. A cork-tainted wine had been opened and Getty posed the question: "Why is cork taint acceptable?" Conover mused that no other industry would tolerate such a high rate of spoilage, and immediately began researching viable alternatives.

Three years later, his 1997 PlumpJack Reserve Cabernet in a screwcap fetched $50,000 at the Napa Valley Wine Auction, sealing its fame as the first luxury Cabernet to be finished with a screwcap.

"Robert Mondavi really upgraded everything (else about winemaking)--stainless steel, small French cooperage," Conover said. "But the last thing he looked at was the closure. It was like a sacred cow."

PlumpJack entered into a research program in collaboration with UC Davis that studies the effects of screwcaps on luxury wines produced to age. Eight years into the study, Conover said, the results are "identical." With age, screwcapped wines are tasting very closely to cork-finished wines.

PlumpJack produces about 12,500 cases per year at its Oakville location, and currently sells its Reserve Cabernet in a two-bottle pack for $370; one bottle is cork-finished, the other features a Stelvin screwcap. "It's outrageous." Conover said. "We put a screwcap on a wine that Robert Parker rated a 98. Most producers wouldn't consider it." The wine in question was the 2004 PlumpJack Reserve Cabernet.

Dave Coffaro, who makes about 7,000 cases of Dry Creek Valley wines at his winery on the Healdsburg-Geyserville line, had a similar experience. Years ago he and his wife had driven 150 miles to her family's home in Modesto, only to discover upon arriving that two of the 1994 Cabernets they had brought along to taste were tainted with TCA.

He's been using screwcaps on 100% of his production ever since. Coffaro sells 70% of his wines as futures, and when buying wines for his personal consumption, he buys screwcaps almost exclusively.

"That sound (you hear) when you open (a screwcap) makes me think of quality," he said. "We're in the 21st century."