1 March 2006, Tony Love, The Advertiser - Adelaide
Stopper the rot
Stephen Henschke's real opinion of cork is about to be revealed. Always one to take the traditional approach with his icon premium reds, Hill of Grace, Mount Edelstone and Cyril Henschke cabernet, the Eden Valley-based Barossa Baron has moved rapidly over the past three vintages to increase the use of modern technology in the form of Stelvin screw caps.
He is motivated by a continued disenchantment with cork closures.
To gauge the change, the 2002 Hill of Grace was bottled mostly in cork but with just 10 per cent in screw cap.
Henschke's 2004 vintage premium reds now being bottled have jumped to 80 per cent screw cap, while his other wines of that year have gone 100 per cent Stelvin.
The reason, Henschke says, is the failure rate of cork, which can produce a taint in wines that renders their aromas and flavours dull and spoiled. His company's in-house failure rate is between 5 and 10 per cent of all bottles, which mirrors the figures across the industry and from the latest Sydney Wine Show.
"It's just ludicrous," Stephen Henschke says.
"You can't be selling wine with a 10 per cent failure rate. Cork is just not acceptable any more."
Cork taint is not the only problem that has persuaded the winemaker to change closures. He cites leakage, random oxidation and woody flavour taint as further reasons for moving almost entirely to screw caps, the latest versions of which he calls "magnificent closures".
He also is trialling new glass stoppers manufactured in Germany.