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W i n e s & V i n e s O C T O b e r 2 0 1 4 45 and Cyrot gauged the opinion of those in the audience. For the Sauvignon Blancs, the greatest variation in taste came between the synthetic corks and screwcap versus the natural cork, which almost tasted like a dif- ferent wine. Cyrot described the Sauvignon Blanc bottled with natural cork as exhibiting more pear, melon, honey and cantaloupe with less acidity and being a bit more rounded, softer and showing more of the oak. The synthetic cork and screwcap wines were both "fresh, flinty, floral" in Cyrot's opinion, but had slightly different fruit flavors. "Basically, I thought the syn- thetic and screwcap closures performed best at preserving some of the aromas and flavors I was trying to capture in the bot- tle," she said. "They both tasted more like the day the wine was bottled." The cork-sealed wine tasted the most different to Cyrot, and this appeared to be the consensus of those in the audience as well. "The cork closure stood out as most different, but not necessarily in a bad way," she said. "It was just more aged.…I felt the closure had played a role in stylistically changing the wine." The Cabernet Sauvignons tasted rela- tively similar, and when Cyrot asked the audience to raise their hands to indicate preference, the room was about evenly split between the two. Cyrot said she still needs more time to understand what type of closure is best for CADe's reds. "I am making sure that the tannin structure and mouthfeel are balanced before putting the wine in bot- tle. The wine still tastes like Howell Mountain, but hopefully the tannin struc- ture isn't a grippy, hard, undrinkable kind of tannin," she said. "So I want a closure that will preserve the fruit aromatics without overly oxidizing the wine." screwcap options Later in the day, Doug Fletcher the vice president of winemaking for the Terlato Wine Group, presented wines from his own trial evaluating different screwcaps. The tasting was sponsored by Mala Clo- sures and featured a 2012 Pinot Grigio bottled in February 2013 under five Vin- Perfect closures with different oxygen transmission rates, a Saranex lined clo- sure and one with Saran-Tin. The bottles with the lowest oTRs had some sensory attributes of reduction as well as a lean texture. on the other end of the oxygen-transmission spectrum, the wines were rounder and more fully devel- oped. Fletcher's preference, which was also the preference of those in the audi- ence, was for the wines bottled with a mid-range oTR. He said he used a screwcap with a Saranex liner for the trial wine's commer- cial release because at the time he knew it resulted in less reduction issues than the Saran-tin liner. He later opted to use the VinPerfect liners because they provided a more consistent oTR, and wines sealed with the VinPerfect Medium were among those preferred by the audience at the tasting session. Fletcher said the trial was to see what oTR level works for each wine, and he said he's still not sure what the answer is. Fletcher said he thought wines bottled under closures with higher rate oTRs would have browned or gone oxidative, but they have held up quite well. In light of what he's learning through the study, Fletcher said he thinks less sulfur dioxide could be used in the cellar in tandem with a nitrogen-drip system on the bot- tling line. He said he also has more confi- dence in the stability of wines with higher oTR closures—at least for the short term. P A C K A G I N G