Grover Vineyards, India's foremost upholder of the Bordeaux style and one of flying wine-maker Michel Rolland's pet projects, has taken a leaf out of the New World and announced it was junking cork in favour of Stelvin screwcaps (known in the trade as the S-Cap), produced by the Oeneo Group.

The S-Cap has taken the New World wine-producing nations by storm and is making progress in more conservative countries, notably France. Globally, the movement against cork is gathering steam because it is proving to be an unnecessary expense and getting a bad name as a result of an unacceptably high incidence of cork taint, or TBA. We have reported the worldwide discussion on the subject, especially in South Africa and France, where, surprisingly, a number of high-quality producer are switching sides.

"Unfortunately, despite the "romance of the cork," there is an ever-present potential for it to taint the wine, says a Grover press release. The taint is the result of the activation, as a result of contact with alcohol, of bacteria that lie dormant and therefore go undetected in some corks. The result is a musty odour imparted to the wine and only detected when the bottle is opened. Wineries all over the world have found that 3-6% of their wines are spoilt in this way. The S-Cap provides a perfect sterile seal and is being increasingly used for all styles of wine.

The advantages of this closure are three-pronged. It enables preservation because the liner ensures full evolution of the wine, thus allowing it to retain the flavours and fragrances developed by the winemaker. The S-Cap, which is also known as "intelligent closure," helps wine companies to create product differentiation. And it is highly practical for wine waiters and the final consumers because it merely needs to be twisted open (or shut). It doesn't lead to embarrassing situations that cork closures often result in when a wine bottle is handled by an amateur.