Proprietor’s Blog 2/23: What’s the Difference Between Corks and Screw Caps?
Happy Wednesday, everyone. Today I wanted to talk about our bottling process, specifically corks versus screw caps.
If you’ve purchased our bottles, you know we use two main types of enclosures: natural cork and screw top (Stelvin). We chose these for very specific reasons, and I wanted to share that with you.
When we decided to put our rosé and Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc under screw cap, it was simple: we wanted these wines bought and drunk the same day. Our rosé and Happy Canyon SB are easy drinking wines, meant for the beach, the lake, or the porch. No wine key needed, just unscrew it, pour it, and enjoy.
You’ll notice all of our estate wines have a natural cork enclosure instead. Cork ensures proper aging. When people ask how long to wait before enjoying one of our red wines, I usually say: enjoy one bottle now, and a second between four and eight years from now. I love seeing how these wines develop in the bottle. They can’t properly age without a slight bit of oxygen ingression, the ability for oxygen to flow ever so slightly through the porous holes of the cork, aging the wine gracefully. Once it’s ready, grab your wine key and a decanter, pour the wine in, let it rest for about 45 minutes to an hour, and enjoy it aged to perfection.
In a little less than two weeks, we’ll be bottling our rosé and our estate Sauvignon Blanc. I’m excited because this is our estate Sauvignon Blanc from Eds’ Vineyard, and it’s our first debut of this wine.
The rosé will be enclosed in a screw cap bottle. Once it’s on the market, we’ll want to share it right away. As for Eds’ Vineyard, we wanted to use a cork enclosure. Since this wine spent time in barrel, we want to mirror that housing to ensure minimal bottle shock and give it the best chance to keep shining and aging. This wine is stunning, with such beautiful flavors, and I cannot wait to share it with all of you.
Thanks for reading along. Stay tuned for more info every week.
Cheers,
Amanda
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