Bottling the Vintage

Once the wine is finished, stable, and aged then it must be bottled for distribution, sale and further storage until it is consumed. Historically, the bottling of wine only extends back to the early 17th century. Up until that point wine was stored in barrels or tanks and what was to be consumed was drawn into a carafe or pitcher that was brought to the table. The single serving bottle was only mass-produced starting in the mid-1700's.

Again, when to bottle is up to the discretion of the winemaker, but it is almost always within 12–24 months from harvest. The main issues with bottling are that the bottles are clean and sterile (so as not to introduce any infection into the wine put into them), and that the closures are sound.

Corks or Caps?

There is a lot of debate today around whether or not to use corks (the seasoned bark of the cuercas suber tree) as a plug in the neck of wine bottles for storage. On the one side are those who say that this method is tried and true, so should not be changed without serious exploration. On the other side are those who say that using corks to seal bottles is taking technology from the Roman Empire as the the only way to seal bottles.

The trouble with corks is that they are a natural and imperfect product. Quality control can only go so far to making it better, but still it is estimated that something like 5 – 15 % of all wines closed with corks arrive at their destination slightly damaged to undrinkable. It is argued that other closures should be used, and the one that is recommended is the screw cap. The problem with screw caps is not that they haven't been tested, but that they remind people of cheap jug wines, so there is the concern that the public will not pay a lot of money for a wine that is packaged like a cheap wine.

I am open to using other closures for my wine, but until I see some of the new techniques proving themselves over time I'm going to stick with corks.