Screw top wine bottles make local debut

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | Saturday, October 1, 2005 7:20 PM PDT ∞

WINE COUNTRY ---- In the world of wine connoisseurs, screw-top bottles are for the street corner, not the tasting room. But one of the region's largest wineries has introduced a line of wines in a screw-cap bottle, and when you buy one, you're as likely to carry it out in a gift bag as in a brown paper sack.

South Coast Winery and Resort unscrewed its first bottles in early September. The three "Elevation" wines ---- a sauvignon blanc, a syrah and a merlot ---- are the least expensive in South Coast's lineup. But their $12 and $14 price tags also put them in the middle of most grocery stores' lineups, and comfortably above Thunderbird and MD 20/20, the $3.99 fortified wines such as those that have made screw-top bottles infamous.

The metal closures may never carry the cachet of natural cork, but South Coast's winemaker, Jon McPherson, says they've gone a long way in the last few years toward bucking the "street wine" image. What's more, he says, they make for more consistent quality. Natural cork, made from the bark of Mediterranean oak trees, sometimes contains mold that reacts with chlorinated water to create a compound called trichloroanisole, or TCA. The result is a taste funkier than anything you'll find in a bottle of Night Train.

McPherson says between 2 percent and 6 percent of all cork-top wine bottles are tainted with TCA, though many in the wine industry put the figure closer to 1 percent.

Wine connoisseurs often age a bottle for years after they buy it, allowing in a tiny amount of oxygen to react with the wine. That creates a wider variety of pleasant flavors, but it only works if the bottle uses natural cork.

South Coast isn't aiming the screw-top Elevation wines at such connoisseurs. Citing industry research, McPherson said most bottles are opened less than 48 hours after purchase. Too many wine drinkers are trapped by tradition, McPherson said, even the majority whose wine habits don't make much of the cork.

"There's been very little innovation since the 1600s, when they started using twine and string," McPherson said. "Why do we want to stay in the dark ages?"

South Coast is one of a small but growing number of respectable American wineries to use screw-tops. The first mid- and high-quality wines to use them were Australian and New Zealand. At Temecula Valley Wine Co. on Ynez Road, all white wines from New Zealand have screw tops, said Jim Lilly, the store's owner.

The store carries 15 wines with the metal closures, compared with just three or four in 2000, Lilly said. The wines range from Arrogant Frog, an $8 French blend of cabernet and merlot, to Kim Crawford, a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand that sells for $16.

Cork-top wines at the store go as high as $250. Someone buying a wine at that price usually knows wine, has a cellar and puts the wine there for a special occasion, Lilly said.

Lilly began selling South Coast's Elevation sauvignon blanc earlier this summer, before the winery itself did. The winery has sold about 500 of the 5,000 cases of Elevation wines it has bottled, McPherson said.

Eric Mercier, chief executive of Oeneo Closures USA, said his company began selling screw caps in January to meet the growing demand in the United States.

"It's so trendy," Mercier said. "People are switching to it all over."

Screw-cap bottles don't risk the wines' flavor like cork-tops do, Mercier said. A key difference is in gas exchange: Metals caps are airtight, while natural cork lets tiny amounts of oxygen in and out. The airtight metal caps keep wine from going bitter and eventually turning into vinegar.

Screw-top bottles can be a good move for mid-sized wineries with a range of wines, said Mike Rennie, co-owner of Leonesse Cellars on De Portola Road. As a smaller boutique, Leonesse goes after more experienced drinkers who may not warm to screw caps or synthetic corks.

"We're trying to have a little finer wine," Rennie said. "Most people expect a traditional cork."

Screw-top closures are also cheaper. Each costs 12 cents, McPherson said, compared with 10 to 60 cents for traditional cork with a thin metal sheath.

McPherson insists the lower price wasn't a motivation for introducing the wine, but said it helped South Coast to keep the wine inexpensive enough for a casual drinker. He also called it a good move for someone who doesn't drink wine often enough to keep a corkscrew around the house.

"There's a definite place for this closure," McPherson said.

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.

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