A
screw cap or
Closure is a common type closure for
bottleA bottle is a container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, ink and chemicals...
s,
jarA jar is a large, approximately cylindrical container made of glass or clay, or plastic. Jar or JAR can also mean:* Containers:** Mason jar, a jar used to preserve various foods...
s, and tubes.
A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a
containerContainer may refer to:* Packaging used to contain, store, and transport products, such as cartons, bottles, cans, etc.**See :Category:Containers for a more complete list* Shipping containers include** Crate** Wooden box...
. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engineered to be cost-effective, to provide an effective seal (and barrier), to be compatible with the contents, to be easily opened by the consumer, often to be reclosable, and to comply with product, package, and environmental laws and regulations.
A
screw cap or
Closure is a common type closure for
bottleA bottle is a container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, ink and chemicals...
s,
jarA jar is a large, approximately cylindrical container made of glass or clay, or plastic. Jar or JAR can also mean:* Containers:** Mason jar, a jar used to preserve various foods...
s, and tubes.
Usage
A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a
containerContainer may refer to:* Packaging used to contain, store, and transport products, such as cartons, bottles, cans, etc.**See :Category:Containers for a more complete list* Shipping containers include** Crate** Wooden box...
. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engineered to be cost-effective, to provide an effective seal (and barrier), to be compatible with the contents, to be easily opened by the consumer, often to be reclosable, and to comply with product, package, and environmental laws and regulations. Some closures need to be tamper resistant and have
child-resistant packagingChild-resistant packaging or C-R packaging is special packaging used to reduce the risk of children ingesting dangerous items. It is often required by regulation for prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, pesticides, and household chemicals....
features.
Wine Industry
Its use as an alternative wine closure is gaining increasing support as an alternative to
corkCork material is an impermeable, buoyant material, a subset of generic cork tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber that is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...
for sealing
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
bottles. A screw cap is a
metalA metal is a chemical element that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat, forms cations and ionic bonds with non-metals. In chemistry, a metal is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions...
cap that screws onto threads on the neck of a
bottleA bottle is a container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, ink and chemicals...
, generally with a metal skirt down the neck to resemble the traditional wine capsule ("foil"). A layer of
plasticPlastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products...
(often PVDC), cork,
rubberNatural rubber is an elastomer that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically...
, or other soft material is used as wad to make a seal with the mouth of the bottle.
Benefits and concerns
In brief, compared to cork:
- screw caps prevent the wine fault
A wine fault or defect is an unpleasant characteristic of a wine often resulting from poor winemaking practices or storage conditions, and leading to wine spoilage. Many of the compounds that cause wine faults are already naturally present in wine but at insufficient concentrations to adversely...
s of oxidation and of cork taintCork taint is a broad term referring to a wine fault characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of wine, especially spoilage that can only be detected after bottling, aging and opening...
, and are easier to open; there are concerns about long-term aging (aging for decades).
- cork is traditional, viewed by customers as higher-end, and has a proven track record.
Traditionally associated in the US with extremely inexpensive
jug wineJug wine is a term in the United States for inexpensive table wine typically bottled in a glass jug.Historically, jug wines were labeled semi-generically, often sold to third parties to be relabeled, or sold directly from the winery's tasting room to customers who would often bring their own bottles...
s or even
"skid row" wineLow-end fortified wines are cheap, low-quality fortified wines. In contrast to table wine, which may be enjoyed as an accompaniment to a meal, or high-end fortified wine, enjoyed as an aperitif or digestif, low-end fortified wines are generally used for intoxication purposes...
s, the screwcap is making a comeback due to concern about premature (or sporadic) oxidation and
cork taintCork taint is a broad term referring to a wine fault characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of wine, especially spoilage that can only be detected after bottling, aging and opening...
. Screwcaps have a much lower failure rate than cork, and in theory will allow a wine to reach the customer in perfect condition, with a minimum of
bottle variationBottle variation is the degree to which different bottles, nominally of the same wine, taste and smell different. There are many causes of bottle variation, some relating to the wine, some to its container and some to storage....
. Cork, of course, has a centuries-old tradition behind it, and there are also concerns about the impact of screwcaps on the aging of those few wines that require decades to be at their best. Some argue that the slow ingress of
oxygenOxygen Oxygen Oxygen (acid, literally "sharp", from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter) is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O...
plays a vital role in aging a wine, while others argue that this amount is almost zero in a sound cork and that any admitted oxygen is harmful. Various studies are underway, although one data point is that producers in Champagne have aged their wines under crown cap for quite some time with no apparent outcry. Even though most wine is consumed within a year of production, it may be advantageous to use screwcaps due to the relatively high incidence of cork taint.
Stelvin screw caps
The most known brand of wine screw caps is
Stelvin, a brand of Rio Tinto Alcan. The brand is so common that it is genericized in common use, with many in the wine trade referring to screw caps as "Stelvin closures", regardless of brand.
The distinguishing features of wine screw caps, in particular Stelvin brand ones, are:
- a long outside skirt, for aesthetics: to resemble the traditional wine capsule ("foil")
- the use of the plastic PVDC (Polyvinylidene chloride) as a neutral liner on the inside wadding
History
The Stelvin was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and commercialized in the 1970s. It was developed by French company
La Bouchage Mecanique, thence acquired by Pea-Pechiney, which became part of
AlcanRio Tinto Alcan Inc. became the world's largest Aluminium company when Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., completed a friendly acquisition of Canadian company Alcan Inc. on November 15, 2007. On this date, Alcan Inc...
, now Rio Tinto Alcan.
It was developed at the 1964 behest of Peter Wall, Production Director of the Australian
YalumbaYalumba is a winery located near Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley. It was founded by a British brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August 1847 aboard the ship 'China'. Upon arriving in Australia in December, Smith built a small...
winery, working with other companies. It was preceded as a closure by a Stelcap/cork combination (closed with cork, with a Stelcap on top): the Stelcap was also a long-skirted screw cap, but with a different inner lining (paper over cork, instead of tin covered by PVDC in a Stelvin).
It was originally trialled in 1970/71 with the Swiss wine
ChasselasChasselas is a wine grape variety grown in Switzerland, France, Germany, Portugal and New Zealand.Theories of its origin vary. Some believe it originally comes from Egypt with a 5,000 year history of cultivation...
, which was particularly affected by cork taint, and first used commercially in 1972 for the Swiss winery Hammel. It was adopted commercially in Australia in late 1976/early 1977. For noble wines, wines from the 1971/72 vintage (such as
Haut-BrionHaut-Brion is a name found in several Bordeaux wine producers in the Graves district, including:* Château Haut-Brion, a premier cru selection of the 1855 classification* Château Laville Haut-Brion, a grand cru of the Graves classification...
) were sealed with Stelvin, then tasted in 1978, and found similar to cork-closed wines.
Adoption
Screw caps met with customer resistance in Australia and New Zealand, and were phased out in the early 1980s, only to be reintroduced gradually in the 1990s. They were widely adopted in the 1980s by Swiss winemakers, and have shown increasingly wide adoption in the succeeding years.
In New Zealand, adoption went from 1% in 2001 to 70% in 2004.
Screw cap adoption in fine wines is proceeding in fits and starts. In July 2000, a group of producers of
Clare ValleyThe Clare Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine regions, best known for Riesling wines. It lies in the Mid North of South Australia, approximately 120 km north of Adelaide. The valley runs north-south, with Main North Road as the main thoroughfare....
RieslingRiesling is a white grape variety which originates in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...
s bottled a portion of their wines in screwcap, and earlier that year
PlumpJack WineryPlumpJack Winery is a boutique winery in Oakville, California specializing in premium Cabernet Sauvignon wines. PlumpJack was the first winery in Napa Valley to use screwcaps as a wine closure on super premium wines. The winery is one of several businesses operated by the PlumpJack Group...
announced it would bottle half its production of US$130 1997 Reserve
Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
in screwcap. Other announcements have followed, including one from
Bonny Doon VineyardBonny Doon Vineyard is a winery based in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. It was started by Randall Grahm in 1983.Bonny Doon was amongst the first Californian wineries to embrace Rhone varietals, giving Randall Grahm the nickname "The Rhone Ranger". The winery is known for its untraditional...
in July 2002 that 80,000 cases of its "Big House" red and white wine would be bottled under screwcaps - followed by almost all the rest of their production by late 2004 (200,000 cases total). Domaine Laroche in Chablis, France has been bottling their Chablis, Premier crus and Grand Crus on Screwcap since 2001 vintage. In July 2004 Corbett Canyon became the first million plus case brand to switch to screwcaps for their entire production, shipping just over three million cases a year. Other notable producers that have switched to screwcaps are R.H. Phillips in 2004 (300,000 cases), Hogue Cellars in 2004 (500,000 cases), and Villa Maria, also in 2004 (200,000 cases).
Sake industry
Sake bottles are almost universally closed with screw caps (some are packed in barrels, or novelty bottles).
Sources
- Brody, A. L., and Marsh, K, S., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 1997, ISBN 0-471-06397-5
- Soroka, W, "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology", IoPP, 2002, ISBN 1-930268-25-4
- Prlewe, J. Wine from Grape to Glass. NY: Abbeville Press, 1999.
- Wayne J. Mortensen and Brian K. Marks, The Failure of a Wine Closure Innovation: A Strategic Marketing Analysis,
- ASTM D3474 Standard Practice for Calibration and Use of Torque Meters Used in Packaging Applications
External links