Winemakers in Clare Valley make the world-changing move in 2000 from cork to screwcap for their bottle closures
Andrew Hardy, chairman of the Clare Valley Winemakers in the late 1990s, called the meeting at The Rising Sun Hotel in Auburn where the group of 14 make their world-changing move to switch from corks to screwcaps for their wine.
A group of 14 visionary wineries in South Australia’s Clare Valley led with world in 2000 by releasing its showcase rieslings bottled with screwcap closures, as an alternative to cork.
The Australian screwcap initiative won the prestigious Maurice O’Shea Award, recognising significant contributions to the wine industry, in 2012. The screwcap became acknowledged globally as the greatest recent advance in guaranteeing the quality and consistency of premium wine.
The screwcap revolution from the Clare Valley was a reaction to cork-related faults, most often taint caused by the TCA (the chemical compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole) in cork bark. Before screwcap closures spread in Australia, the level of wines ruined by cork taint was 12-15% – or one bottle in every dozen. This was due largely to cork suppliers providing Australia with (compared to Europe) second-rate corks with higher taint-producing bacteria.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a few Australian winemakers tried moving away from cork but the public associated screwcaps with cheap wine and lacking the romance of a cork pop. But Australian winemakers were growing increasingly frustrated in the 1990s for paying for expensive imported wine corks that were ruining their wines’ reputation with consumers.
OX Hardy Wines director Andrew Hardy, chairman of the Clare Valley Winemakers in the late 1990s, called a meeting at The Rising Sun hotel in Auburn where the group of 14 decided to move together in the switch to screwcaps. Andrew Mitchell of Mitchell Wines and Jeffrey Grosset of Grosset Wines were among the leaders in adopting the screwcap.
New Zealand soon followed the Clare Valley. But Australians still had to win over Europeans sceptical about screwcaps.
Award-winning Australian wine writer Tyson Stelzer came up with some stunning results from a tasting at Italy's biggest wine show, Vinitaly, in, 2015. Tyson presented five mature flagship Australian red wines under cork and screwcap in a blind tasting. Some of Australia's most age-worthy and respected reds were presented, including Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz 2004. In a major surprise, the panel of international wine professionals voted the screwcapped wines ahead of the corks.
Consumers warmed to the convenience of screwcapped bottles being easy to open and reseal. By the 21st Century, 98% of Australian wine was produced under screwcap. Screwcap technology developed closures that strictly controlled rates of oxygen transmission, giving winemakers the choice of maturation rates for different wine styles.
