Leading Austalian winery returns to cork

Leading Austalian winery returns to cork

Rusden winemaker Christian Canute

Leading Australian winery Rusden Wines has announced it is giving up on

screwcap closures after five years as a result of persistent quality control

issues and will now bottle its entire product range under cork.

In an article in the July edition of

Australia’s Wine Business Magazine (WBM),

Rusden winemaker Christian Canute said the Barossa Valley winery had

experienced a range of problems with its wine under screwcap and the

decision to return to cork was based purely on technical performance.

“After a five year trial of screwcap it has become clear that cork is best for our

wines,” Canute told WBM.

“Our wines are handmade and bottled without fining or filtration. Under a

screwcap I have noticed the wines ‘sweat’, producing overly dominant

reductive characters, a problem we have never had under cork.”

Rusden is among the top echelon of Australian family-owned wineries and is

well respected in both the domestic and international market. It has been

highly-rated by Robert Parker consistently over the last 10 years with its Black

Guts Shiraz averaging above 95 points during that period.

Canute said Australian sommeliers had provided feedback that confirmed the

reductive, ‘sweaty’ characters he was experiencing in the winery with the wine

under screwcap. Trade customers were also experiencing a great deal of

bottle variation, which again Rusden had not encountered with its wines

bottled under cork.

“

When I saw Rusden losing customers because of this, I realised something

needed to be done,” Canute said.

Following further technical analysis and tasting Rusden determined that the

screwcap closure was the cause of the problems and when the entire 2009

vintage of its Driftsand grenache/shiraz was affected decided to change the

closure.

“As I had noticed an incredible improvement in the performance of cork in all

our other wines, it was obvious to me that the move back to cork would be the

best direction to head in,” Canute told WBM.

“From a technical point of view, from a sustainability point of view, from a

consumer point of view and from an aspirational, premium factor point of view,

cork is the best companion to wine.”

Canute said he was aware of other winemakers who were unhappy with the

way their wines aged under screwcap and questioned why the Australian

industry tried to sell screwcap over and above Australian wine.

“Any winemaker should be able to have the choice of using the closure they

see as best for their product without negativity surrounding their decision. I

reckon we are on the right track thanks to companies like Amorim who have

invested so much into producing quality cork which should allow winemakers

to have another option at their fingertips they can rely upon with confidence,”

Origin information (read more at): Corkfacts.com