Leading Austalian winery returns to cork
Rusden winemaker Christian Canute
Leading Australian winery Rusden Wines has announced it is giving up on
screwcap closures after five years as a result of persistent quality control
issues and will now bottle its entire product range under cork.
In an article in the July edition of
Australia’s Wine Business Magazine (WBM),
Rusden winemaker Christian Canute said the Barossa Valley winery had
experienced a range of problems with its wine under screwcap and the
decision to return to cork was based purely on technical performance.
“After a five year trial of screwcap it has become clear that cork is best for our
wines,” Canute told WBM.
“Our wines are handmade and bottled without fining or filtration. Under a
screwcap I have noticed the wines ‘sweat’, producing overly dominant
reductive characters, a problem we have never had under cork.”
Rusden is among the top echelon of Australian family-owned wineries and is
well respected in both the domestic and international market. It has been
highly-rated by Robert Parker consistently over the last 10 years with its Black
Guts Shiraz averaging above 95 points during that period.
Canute said Australian sommeliers had provided feedback that confirmed the
reductive, ‘sweaty’ characters he was experiencing in the winery with the wine
under screwcap. Trade customers were also experiencing a great deal of
bottle variation, which again Rusden had not encountered with its wines
bottled under cork.
“
When I saw Rusden losing customers because of this, I realised something
needed to be done,” Canute said.
Following further technical analysis and tasting Rusden determined that the
screwcap closure was the cause of the problems and when the entire 2009
vintage of its Driftsand grenache/shiraz was affected decided to change the
closure.
“As I had noticed an incredible improvement in the performance of cork in all
our other wines, it was obvious to me that the move back to cork would be the
best direction to head in,” Canute told WBM.
“From a technical point of view, from a sustainability point of view, from a
consumer point of view and from an aspirational, premium factor point of view,
cork is the best companion to wine.”
Canute said he was aware of other winemakers who were unhappy with the
way their wines aged under screwcap and questioned why the Australian
industry tried to sell screwcap over and above Australian wine.
“Any winemaker should be able to have the choice of using the closure they
see as best for their product without negativity surrounding their decision. I
reckon we are on the right track thanks to companies like Amorim who have
invested so much into producing quality cork which should allow winemakers
to have another option at their fingertips they can rely upon with confidence,”
