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38 WINES&VINES August 2015 PACKAGING Long-time loyalist Since it bottled its first, 1976 vintage in 1978, Jordan Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg has used natural cork stoppers. "Very few options were available at that time," recalled wine- maker Rob Davis. "Other options slowly were introduced. The early synthetic corks had problems with seal- ing, due to lack of elasticity in the hard, inflex- ible material. Our research showed a high degree of spoilage in the wine because of air leaking between the synthetic cork and the glass neck." Synthetic stoppers have been vastly im- proved since then, Davis acknowledged, "But even if they proved equal or superior to natural cork, we choose to stay with the natural cork. Since at least 75% of our sales are to restau- rants, perception is a key issue. Performance of opening the cork is an issue, too. Removing the synthetic cork is much more labor intensive." Davis and his team also have tested screw- caps. "Despite their easy seal and lower inci- dence of TCA, our research showed that the screwcap seal impairs the aging cycle of our wines in bottle," he commented. "Both Cabernet and Chardonnay were much slower to develop their bouquet in the screw- capped bottles. Since one of the hallmarks of Jordan wine is drinkability—in particular the Cabernet, known for its silky tannins—the lack of age showing in our wine upon sale would be a big problem. And as much as screwcaps are hailed as a cure for TCA, and therefore a better closure, that is not really true," Davis stated. Screwcaps come with their own potential for "failure," he noted. "Because they are applied by a machine to a bottle that can vary in diam- eter at the neck, sometimes the bottle is not sealed correctly, resulting in a wine that leaks, is oxidized or spoiled (volatile acidity)." Jordan maintains an in-house laboratory where it tests natural corks prior to use, said assistant winemaker Maggie Kruse. The testing is rigorous and time consuming. "We do our own in-house quality control six months prior to bottling. We travel to our cork companies and sample the different lots ourselves. Then back at the lab, we visually grade the corks, check moisture levels and measure the height and width of the corks," she said. "Next we soak 100 corks all together in a neutral base wine and send that wine out for SPME (solid-phase microextraction) analysis to see if we have any TCA. If the analysis comes FRESH CAPSULE SOLUTIONS Just as natural cork stoppers have changed in subtle ways to retain traditional appear- ance with improved performance, the capsules used to protect them also continue to progress. Manufacturers now provide a selection of materials and designs so winemak- ers can offer custom looks best suited to their brands. Janson Capsules, based in Toulouse, France, is preferred by Naked Wines. It provides polylaminate capsules with decorated tops and sides that can be printed or hot stamped. Janson recently announced the move of all its decorative facilities from Alabama to Napa, Calif. Keeping up with all-new pack- aging developments, Janson also supplies screwcap closures. "We are moving along with the market evolution without any holdup," said Melanie Thomas, executive director at Janson. Catering to wineries of all sizes, "One of our strengths is that we offer no minimum quantity per run, (which is) ideal for mar- keting mock-ups for larger companies," Thomas said. Janson provides easy-removal tear-tab options that are especially popular with PVC capsules in the spirits industry. Tear-tabs are also available on polylam capsules. "This additional cost does not really appear in the final cost to the customer," Thomas said. Tear-tabs are fully shrinkable, she added, and do not bring problems to the bottling line. Since lead capsules were banned some 20 years ago, tin has become the gold standard for wine bottles. Maverick Enterprises of Ukiah, Calif., recently developed a new product, referred to as ATP, or almost tin product. This trademarked item includes updated sub- strates to provide "a more refined, high-quality spin down" on the bottling line, according to Shelby White, Maverick's marketing coordinator. The ATP material is a thicker, more durable layered polylaminate engineered to bridge the gap between poly and tin, for a very malleable, high-quality, cost- effective closure. ATP reduces the risk for wineries whose bottles have large transfer beads or sharp edges that cause spin- down problems with standard polylaminate capsules. Another novel Maverick capsule is the CapASleeve, which features a C-cut tear-tab that simplifies removal. The polylam CapASleeve can be used on natural/tech- nical and synthetic corks. Completely recyclable, it adds "only a small cost difference" to closures, using the same spin-down application as standard capsules. They can be printed on skirts and tops in any color and are available in diameters from 28.8mm to 32mm and in lengths from 55mm to 70mm. To date, the CapASleeve has been adopted by spirits makers but has yet to find its way onto winery bottling lines, White said. The C-cut tear tab simplifies re- moval of Maverick's CapASleve. Jordan's corks from throughout history show vari- ous levels of wear. These days the winery performs quality analysis of natural corks using visual inspection and soaking in its in-house laboratory. Capsule innovations include easy printing options, better tear-tabs and a new capsule material called ATP for "almost tin product."