In a chat with Adam Lechmere of Decanter, he re-affirmed what he has said for more than a year now, that a few cases of the 2006 Grange have been sealed with the new type of 'glass to glass' stoppers, different than the Vino-Lok glass seals being used by the Rheingau producer Schloss Vollrads, which have a silicon ring between the stopper and bottle top.
During a visit to the winery last year, the winemaker at the German winery had informed delWine that they were totally satisfied with the performance of the glass seals and the winery had switched fully to these stoppers made by Alcoa of USA. Of course, Schloss Vollrads and Schloss Johannesburg, the other winery in the same region also using the Vino-Lok are known more for their white wines- the Riesling.
The glass for the new closure is sintered and woven microscopically to allow oxygen exchange, just like the millions of tiny pores of traditional cork. This, says Gago, is essential for the aging of fine wines. “Really great cork is still hard to beat if you can neutralise the problem of TCA, or cork taint, but as an alternative we have been experimenting for a while with this glass to glass circular disc closure. We are trying it out now,” he is reported to have said earlier this year.
Another advantage of using this closure is that it would show up any problems of leakage in old wines, which an airtight seal such as a screwcap does not allow, says Gago.
As the trials continue, Gago plans to approach Foster's, the parent company to finance the project. But despite the successful trial, adoption of the closure is not yet a fait accompli. With the ongoing recession in which Foster is going through turbulent weather in its international wine business, it may not be able to financially support the glass-on-glass project or it may keep it on the backburner. But it would be short sighted to do so.
The work done so far by Gago and his team at Grange offers them a unique to take a lead in the fine red wine enclosures business. If they do not seize the opportunity, some other enterprising competitor is likely to adopt the new technology.
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