Our hunt for the perfect closure

November 21st, 2011 | Bottles and bottling

Back in June I mentioned on this blog that we had been measuring the Oxygen Transfer Rate (OTR) in our wines. In case you didn’t read it this is quite simply a measurement of the oxygen levels within the wine in our tanks (before bottling), during bottling (oxygen suspended in the wine when bottled), and also oxygen in the ‘head space’ (the small gap between the wine and the cork). By measuring this we can learn about the effectiveness of the closure that we use to seal our bottles.

As I have mentioned before, we already use Nomacorc synthetic closures (a choice made after extensive tests back in 2001/2002), but even so our quest to find the perfect closure continues. We have already ‘upgraded’ twice with the Nomacorc range – from the ‘Classic’ to the ‘Classic+’, and then from the ‘Classic+’ to the ‘Select Series’, but we now search for the perfect option within the Select Series itself.

Obviously we can simply follow the manufacturers recommendation for our type of wine, but in th end we have opted for something far more practical and comprehensive – we have made test bottlings of the three different options within the range. Each month we make a comparative tasting of the three to see how our wine reacts and evolves over time. We are now nearly six months into the exercise, and after months of noticing little difference, we are now beginning to taste some subtle differences between the samples. It should be during the next six months that we are able to make the most useful comparisons as the wine bridges the 6-12 month period in bottle – by the end of this we should be in a position to make our definitive selection and provide our customers with the best possible alternative.

Back in June I mentioned on this blog that we had been measuring the Oxygen Transfer Rate (OTR) in our wines. In case you didn’t read it this is quite simply a measurement of the oxygen levels within the wine in our tanks (before bottling), during bottling (oxygen suspended in the wine when bottled), and also oxygen in the ‘head space’ (the small gap between the wine and the cork). By measuring this we can learn about the effectiveness of the closure that we use to seal our bottles.

As I have mentioned before, we already use Nomacorc synthetic closures (a choice made after extensive tests back in 2001/2002), but even so our quest to find the perfect closure continues. We have already ‘upgraded’ twice with the Nomacorc range – from the ‘Classic’ to the ‘Classic+’, and then from the ‘Classic+’ to the ‘Select Series’, but we now search for the perfect option within the Select Series itself.

Obviously we can simply follow the manufacturers recommendation for our type of wine, but in th end we have opted for something far more practical and comprehensive – we have made test bottlings of the three different options within the range. Each month we make a comparative tasting of the three to see how our wine reacts and evolves over time. We are now nearly six months into the exercise, and after months of noticing little difference, we are now beginning to taste some subtle differences between the samples. It should be during the next six months that we are able to make the most useful comparisons as the wine bridges the 6-12 month period in bottle – by the end of this we should be in a position to make our definitive selection and provide our customers with the best possible alternative.

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