Tag: closures

A red screw-cap (screw-top, screw-cork)

Stelvin, the screw cap, turns 60 years old

The screw cap (“screw cork” or “screw top”) is a success story. All wine countries use it for some of their wines and it largely dominates in Australia and New Zealand. It was in the

A crown cap, old-fashioned beer cap on a wine bottle

Ordinary crown cap for sparkling wine?

A reader of our Brief had seen an advertisement for a sparkling wine called Bubbly Rosé which was sealed with a regular crown cap (old fashioned beer bottle cap). She wanted to hear more about

A Diam 3 cork

Eco-friendly cork wins award

Every year, over 2 billion Diam corks are sold, so chances are you will now and then pull one out of your wine bottle. Diam Bouchage is a French company that 12 years ago introduced

Harvesting oak bark for cork, Alentejo, Portugal

China wants natural cork, Australia complies

China has become Australia’s largest export market. And the things you do to satisfy your customers! You even put natural cork in the bottles, despite the fact that you are Australian. Amorim, Portugal’s (and the

Cork oak tree in Portugal harvest a year with 5

New techniques for cork oaks in Portugal

Portugal’s (and the world’s) largest producer of cork products, Amorim, is slowly changing the cork industry. Since 2013, a project has been in progress concerning the possibility to start harvesting the cork from the cork

Cork soaking for TCA testing

Natural cork is doing very well these days

An article about how natural cork has made a comeback in recent years made me look for some interesting cork statistics from Apcor, the association of Portugal’s cork industry. 34% of the world’s cork forests

Champagne corks showing the evolution of shape with time

Zest: a synthetic cork for sparkling wines

Nomacorc, manufacturer of synthetic wine corks, has launched a synthetic cork for sparkling wines. The cork will start selling in Italy beginning of 2016. The visual aspect of the cork has been important for Nomacorc

Cork oaks in Provence

Portugal is the world’s largest cork producer but now competition is coming from Provence. Well, France will never have the volumes they have in Portugal. Portugal is still by far the world’s biggest cork producer.

A red screw-cap (screw-top, screw-cork)

The screw cap is gaining ground

Some countries have gladly embraced the screw cap while the increase in other countries is slower. Wine consumer’s preferences are very different when it comes to choosing between natural cork and screw cap. The screw

Natural cork, alive and well

Those who believe that natural cork is about to die out should probably think again. Not only do the major wine countries such as France and Italy, in most cases, prefer natural cork, now more

Demand for French wines growing – in the USA

It is not quite Jack in the Box, but French wines are making solid progress in the USA. In 2013 sales of French wines increased with 7.3% to reach 9.4 million cases, Shanken News Daily

Protect your wine with The Wine Condom

“The wine condom” will protect your wine once the bottle has been opened, it claims. Proper protection for your wine is indeed a good tag line. This new wine-related Kickstarter “wine condom” project had me

Corks and stoppers of various types

Corked wine? Not only cork defects

When you talk about faulty wines, the cork is often the scapegoat. However, there are other types of defects. A tasting in the region of Touraine in the Loire Valley shows that the cork defect

Amorim launches new natural cork

At Vinexpo, recently held in Bordeaux, Amorim launched a new way to seal a wine bottle called Helix Concept. Helix Concept is in fact both a bottle and a cork. The cork is a slightly

Natural ”plastic cork”?

The plastic cork is one of several alternatives to natural cork. Some like it and some do not. Some producers refuse to put plastic in their bottles. While others think it is an excellent alternative

A Diam 3 cork

Natural cork without cork taint

We heard about the Diam closure for the first time about five years ago. We attended a tasting with some Champagne producers who all had tried a natural cork called Mytik, which is Diams counterpart

Chateau Margaux, Medoc, Bordeaux, seen through the gate

Château Margaux in an experimental mood

More on Bordeaux. They have been doing some interesting experiments at Château Margaux reveals The Wine Sleuth, an interesting wine blog. At a tasting in London Paul Pontallier, director and wine maker at the chateau,

A new wire cage muselet for sparkling wine

New muselet for the champagne bottle

Will this new invention be accepted by the Champagne producers? It is not easy to introduce new closures in the Champagne region (we recall Champagne Duval-Leroy’s attempt a couple years ago, that failed due to

Pretty evening skies over Paris, with La Defense obscured by cranes

The magic of oxygen in the wine bottle

One of the things that contribute to the ageing of wine is oxygen. Aging is, partially, a slow oxidation of the wine. It leads to changes in the flavour and aromas and it also changes

A Diam 3 cork

Eco-friendly cork wins award

Every year, over 2 billion Diam corks are sold, so chances are you will now and then pull one out of your wine bottle. Diam

Cork oak tree in Portugal harvest a year with 5

New techniques for cork oaks in Portugal

Portugal’s (and the world’s) largest producer of cork products, Amorim, is slowly changing the cork industry. Since 2013, a project has been in progress concerning

Cork oaks in Provence

Portugal is the world’s largest cork producer but now competition is coming from Provence. Well, France will never have the volumes they have in Portugal.

A red screw-cap (screw-top, screw-cork)

The screw cap is gaining ground

Some countries have gladly embraced the screw cap while the increase in other countries is slower. Wine consumer’s preferences are very different when it comes

Natural cork, alive and well

Those who believe that natural cork is about to die out should probably think again. Not only do the major wine countries such as France

Amorim launches new natural cork

At Vinexpo, recently held in Bordeaux, Amorim launched a new way to seal a wine bottle called Helix Concept. Helix Concept is in fact both

Natural ”plastic cork”?

The plastic cork is one of several alternatives to natural cork. Some like it and some do not. Some producers refuse to put plastic in

A Diam 3 cork

Natural cork without cork taint

We heard about the Diam closure for the first time about five years ago. We attended a tasting with some Champagne producers who all had

A new wire cage muselet for sparkling wine

New muselet for the champagne bottle

Will this new invention be accepted by the Champagne producers? It is not easy to introduce new closures in the Champagne region (we recall Champagne

Month-by-month archive

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER!

25,000 subscribers get wine news every month. You too?