On Wine Closures (from a question by Lars Klove)

A glass cork? Is this state of the art or gimmick?And I was just getting used to the screwtop.

Hi Lars,

Great subject and question! Get used to screw top and composite synthetic corks. The technology is much more advanced than glass and has superior advantages—mainly having adjustable breathing rates to allow for different fill levels and controlled oxidation. In my opinion, the only question left for screwtops and synthetics to reign supreme over natural cork, is whether or not they will stand the test of time on cellar-worthy bottles. Michel Laroche is one of the world’s top winemakers and a leading expert and researcher on the subject. Peter Liem, Senior Correspondent of Wine & Spirits Magazine and superb blogger on wine, is a good resource on all things wine (especially Champagne and French wine in general) and deals with the subject.

As for my wine, we use very expensive natural cork (yes there is cork and then there is cork). A typically mass produced premium wine (from a winery that produces at least 30,000 cases) that uses natural cork, can possibly have up to 8% bad wine due to cork issues. For a winery with smaller production, vigilant quality control, and the use of more expensive cork, the percentage of cork taint is significantly reduced. Since I started working with Terralsole in August of this year, I have opened, for sampling purposes, 60 bottles of our Brunello with not one bottle having cork taint. That is an amazing statistic and speaks to the severe regimen our winemaker, Mario Bollag, uses in the cellar. He buys the best and longest corks he can find and sterilizes each batch himself (cork producers do this, but with varying degrees of success). He then hand inspects each cork during bottling. We make only 2,500-3,000 cases of Brunello, depending on the vintage, and since our Brunello retails for $85.00 on the shelf, we feel that it is worth the added expense to insure the consumer has a better experience, especially when you consider that many of our customers will lay down a good vintage for 10 years or so.

I know of no other industry that accepts an 8% fail rate on their finished product. But that is the state of the wine business today and why winemakers that do not want to accept the poor quality control reality of mass produced corks, are moving towards the screw cap.

Why the Blog!

This is a blog dedicated to starting a discussion on the terroirs of Montalcino-predominantly terroirs existing in the Brunello di Montalcino growing district. As a managing partner of Azienda Agricola Terralsole (a new property planted in 1996), I have a vested interest in learning about ways to discuss the myriad of styles and results in the glass that Sangiovese Grosso imparts in our wines, and communicate this to consumers, gatekeepers of the trade, and other like minded growers in the appellation. Mario Bollag acquired and built Terralsole from the ground up in 1996, purchasing two distinctively different parcels of land in the Brunello di Montalcino growing district. Two terroirs exist on the cooler, well-ventilated Pian Bossolino parcel (contiguous to the winery, high on the southeastern slope behind Biondi Santi) and one terroir at Vigna Fonte Lattaia, which is lower in altitude, on the southwestern slopes bordering the road that links the Romanesque Abbey of S. Antimo to the hamlet of S. Angelo in Colle. As the local and international debates rage on about defining terroirs in Montalcino, Mario Bollag has adhered to his principles and artistic vision. That vision over twenty years ago led him to the conclusion that different terroirs exist on the mountain and to establish them is to give him a broader more colorful palette from which to work his non-formulaic method in the vineyard and cellar. Our first wine was the 2000 Brunello di Montalcino.