Why are corks used for wine instead of screw tops?

Question

pwei34 - is this the only reason, tradition?

WHY IS SOMEONE MARKING ALL THESE BADLY?

Answer 1

There are a number of reasons. First, good quality screwcap closures are fairly recent for wines, the traditional closure is cork, so it means changing established procedure.

The other reasons for not changing to screwcaps are

- consumer resistance: many people, especially in the USA equate screwcap closed wines with poor wines
- cost of converting winery bottling line to screwcaps
- uncertainty about aging potential of wine under screwcaps
- personal taste; many winemaker like cork
- intertia

Answer 2

hi i have 2 vineyards in Austria and the reason we do not use screw tops is because the wine reacts to the metal or plastic which will turn the wine.
the cork is to let the wine breath as the wine is still fomenting all the time as you have seen there are some very old wines out there plus it can be very dangerous to as we keep the wine in are cold cellars but you do have such a build up sometimes the cork blows out.plus unknown to people is that when we are changing the grapes to wine it goes through a certain process which can be deadly to human as we keep the wine in a dark cellar we use a candle just like the coal men used too, to detected gas,well it is the same with wine it can produce a dangerous gas which has claimed the lives of some silly youngster's that do not listen to the warning and take there big headed friends down the cellars without the aid off detectors and they are found dead in the cellars as it is not detected by the human nose.
hope this helps.
maria.p

Answer 3

...And I'll take it from the "cost to produce" end rather than debating which is best. What Wine Makers (and every other food and drink manufacturer, for that matter) are all trying to do is streamline their efficiencies when it comes to getting their product out the door. Cork is becoming scarce and expensive. Aluminum and plastic are not. So, sometimes, it's purely a packaging issue. And, it's also and image issue, which is unwarranted. I bought an excellent bottle of Pinot Noir (in the $40 range) from CA. Loved it. A few months later, I bought the same brand, however a year later in the vintage and it had a screw cap on it. I noticed that it was about $38. Go figure. The Manaufacturer actually passed their savings on to the Customer! What a concept. All kidding aside - there are perfectly good wines in cartons, bag-in-box, screw caps, etc. It just is an evolving thing, business-wise, so you will see even more innovations as the years pass us by.

Answer 4

The percentage of corked wine is about 5% to 15% depending on whose survey you read. Yes the only reason corks are still used is because of the romance associated with the cork screw presentation. Many wine experts have written numerous articles praising the screw-cap, but until the majority can get over there cork-snobbery the cork will still be around.

Check this
http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/activities/foodandwine/story.html?id=dba5ffc2-6c24-43c7-ac45-3024a5724b59&k=79313&p=1

Answer 5

Traditionally wine with a screw top has been considered cheap plonk. But an increasing number of good quality wines now do come with a screw top.

Personally I prefer the ceremonial of opening a wine bottle with a cork screw. Twist and pour just ain't the same.

*The reason given for the move to screwtop (as with "plastic" corks) is that impurities in the cork sometimes "corked" the wine". Frankly this has happened to me so rarely, I dont think it a risk.*

*Of course when wine first started being bottled in glass, a cork, together with sealing wax or lead foil was the most efficient method*

Answer 6

There is now a movement AWAY from screw tops as the wine is affected adversely when it comes into contact with the metal/plastic of the top. A cork also allows a modicum of breathing by the wine

Answer 7

Rather than take up space here, this is a really good site which explains why........

http://www.wineanorak.com/corks/introduction.htm

Cheers !

Answer 8

to keep jobs in portugal, where the cork comes from.

Answer 9

because cork screws dont work on screw tops very well

Answer 10

actually its because some wines you buy need to breath so therefore they are corked.