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50 WINES&VINES May 2015 PACKAGING with a screwcap. PlumpJack's winemakers fre- quently appear at conventions and trade shows, sharing decades of success with closures that many of their colleagues had deemed un- suitable for collectable, age-worthy wines. Untwisting the screwcap debate Florent Merlier, winemaker at Van Duzer Vine- yards in Dallas, Ore., is a fan of screwcaps from the leading manufacturer, Stelvin. Van Duzer wines are sold mostly direct to consumer (DtC), at prices ranging from $18 to $85 per bottle. Merlier got his start at Oenologie à Façon in Switzerland, a custom-crush operation where he became well versed in packaging and closure technology, including close work with Maison Hammel, which in 1989 became one o f t h e f i r s t p r e m i u m w i n e r i e s t o u s e screwcaps. While at the Swiss company in 2006, "We compared different types of closures: Stelvin, Stelvin Deluxe, natural and synthetic corks, Vinoloc (a pricey glass stopper) and DIAM (a natural-cork product that reduces or eliminates TCA through processing). "Screwcaps, natural cork and DIAM were the top three, quality- and consistency-wise," Merlier said. Today, Van Duzer seals its bottles with 85% screwcaps, 14% natural cork and 1% DIAM closures. Only its highest tier of wines are sold under natural cork. To close Van Duzer wines, Merlier said, "I am currently using the Stelvin Saranex, which allows some O 2 transfer, as opposed to the Saran/tin, which allows low O 2 transfer." Stelvin's Saranex liners, he noted, have re- solved some application problems. "Back in Switzerland, I faced many issues with screw- caps, especially those from Italy. The Stelvin was the most consistent. As the technology and the knowledge advance, consistency, quality and reliability increase," Merlier said. "As a winemaker, it is important to always question your choice and put the winery into a leading rather than a following position," Merlier stressed. He is conducting trials with other screwcaps as well as Stelvin's options for varied oxygen transmission. Van Duzer did hear some feedback about its closure choices. "Some markets and custom- ers voiced objections regarding screwcaps. It is not a traditional closure, but let's face reality: CHEHALEM FIGHTS SCREWCAP SKEPTICISM F ounded in Oregon in 1993, Chehalem started trialing Stelvin screwcaps with the 1994 vintage, and began using them on some wines starting with the 2003 vin- tage. "We've bottled all our wines under Stelvin from the 2008 vintage on," said Harry Peterson-Nedry, co-founder and co-wine- maker at the 18,000-case Willamette Valley winery. "We phased in screwcaps on higher priced, more ageable wines in order to get more data on ag- ing characteristics and impacts," he said. Chehalem's Burgun- dian, Alsatian and German-varietal wines sell from $19 to $99 per bottle. "We use tin-lined caps exclusively on all our wines," Peter- son-Nedry said. "It doesn't vary based on variety or price point—al- though, of course, we would analyze things differently if we were doing other varieties. I don't doubt Bordelaise varieties might not respond the same." Selling expensive wine with screwcap closures is a con- cern many winemakers face, but according to Peterson- Nedry, "We have received much less pushback from the market than we an- ticipated at first. After six to 12 years, however, there remains a core of consum- ers and retailers/restaurants serving them who still as- sociate Stelvin with 'cheap' wines, or are concerned their friends might consider them lower quality, rather than what they are—a technically superior approach to assure a consistent, uniform and long-lived wine without TCA and premature oxidation," he noted. "We still see this stubborn resistance, even in the ranks of sommeliers who don't want to fight or don't believe the data." To combat this skepticism, Chehalem has planned a nation-wide road-trip, armed with 10 years' worth of its most widely distributed Pinot Noir wine, Three Vineyard. This will, Peterson-Nedry hopes, "show the preservation and aging characteristics of screwcaps. We do have great data on aging with Stelvin compared to cork—both in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay." When they first became avail- able, some winemakers found that obtaining screwcap-ready bottles and bottling equipment was a problem. With its own bottling line in place and its processes developed, Che- halem has had "no problems" with application, and it has not changed the styles or models it is using, "Although we have run trials with breathable lin- ers," the winemaker said. Due to branding consider- ations, Chehalem decorates its caps with an embossed "C" on the top and the winery name painted on the skirt. "We are remaining faithful to Stelvin as a high-quality brand and have not used others except in tri- als," Peterson-Nedry affirmed. Van Duzer Vineyards uses Stelvin Saranex clo- sures to allow O 2 transfer.