| Winemakers' efforts to solve the problem of 'corking' by using screwcaps may have aggravated another problem that can leave wines with a smell of rotten eggs, feel the experts.
Tests on screw-capped wines by the International Wine Challenge in London found that 2.2 per cent of bottles were affected by 'sulphidisation' - a chemical reaction caused by excess use of the preservative sulphur dioxide and a lack of oxygen. Though the IWC found 4.4 per cent of cork-closed bottles also suffered sulphide problems, corks allowed oxygen into the bottle, apparently stopping some of the smell, reports The Scotsman.
The Times newspaper reported a leading wine analyst had confirmed the problem. Wine chemist Geoffrey Taylor, who tests 14,000 capped bottles a year, said he found low levels of sulphidisation in wines - likened by some drinkers to a smell of burning rubber, or spent matches.
The smell is much easier for drinkers to spot than TCA - the chemical compound 2,4,6-TriChloroAnisole - which is found in wine with cork taint, a fungal problem that triggered introduction of non-cork closers like screwcaps, especially in Australia and New Zealand where the use of cork is exception than the rule.
Experts have said there are likely to be few problems with screw-capped white wines bought to drink straight away, but that storing metal-capped reds, such as a pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon, might prove disappointing. Almost 90 per cent of the 12 million bottles sold annually by New Zealand to UK have metal caps.
Wine growers in New Zealand and Australia are not worried yet by this report though. New Zealand winegrower Kim Crawford says cork-topped wine is as likley to suffer from sulphide as screw cap wine. Another grower, Alan Limmer of Stonecroft Vineyard says that the method of testing in Britain is not reliable or accurate.
In the meanwhile, the UK wine merchant Bibendum has reported that Les Tourelles de Longueville, the second wine of Chateau Pichon-Longueville, the well-known Second Growth of Pauillac will be bottled with the Stelvin topped closure for the British bars and restaurants where it distributes these wines exclusively.
The wines will be officially released on 1 April but are available now. The first wines under the new closure will be of 2004 vintage. 12000 bottles are being bottled with screwcap. Sales to wine merchants, high street shops and private customers would continue to be bottled with cork. |
