Wait, Cork Can Add Flavor to My Wine?

Most discussions about wine corks typically concern the potential flaws the closure can impart on the liquid. (It doesn’t help that one of the most prevalent wine flaws is commonly known as “cork taint.”) But the cork doesn’t always have to be a negative influence. In fact, producers in Champagne have been experimenting with the idea of corks adding increased depth and texture to the final wine for decades with surprising results. VinePair tapped Frédéric Panaiotis, the chef de caves at Ruinart, to explain how the winery is embracing this concept.

In Champagne, producers use the traditional method — which involves a secondary fermentation in-bottle and an extended period of lees aging — to make complex sparkling wines. Typically, when the wines are set down to age, the bottle is closed with a crown cap, but Ruinart decided to switch it up and see what aging the wine with a cork closure would do.

“In 1998, the previous Ruinart cellar master decided to revisit the approach of aging under cork versus regular crown caps,” Panaiotis says. “The idea was to explore the aging potential of our Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs under those two different closures. Shortly after joining the House in May 2007, I had the opportunity to taste both Champagnes side by side and I was amazed by how different they tasted.” Much to his surprise, the Dom Ruinart under cork tasted younger and fresher, yet also more complex and layered.

Due to these results, which he found were consistently replicated, Panaiotis decided to switch completely to aging under cork for the Dom Ruinart bottling from the 2010 vintage onward. The winery also extended it to the Dom Ruinart Rosé cuvée with the 2013 vintage, which is to be released in 2027.

Why does the change in closure lead to these clear differences in the final wine? “It all comes down to oxygen exchange,” Panaiotis explains. “Although cork initially releases more oxygen than a crown cap, this amount is immediately used by yeasts and therefore doesn’t interfere much with the aromatic profile.” The winery has analyzed the impact of these different closures on a technical level, and found that after five to seven years of aging, the cumulative oxygen intake is surprisingly less under cork than with a crown cap.

Panaiotis also notes that the cork itself isn’t a neutral material like the crown cap. “The cork is not too different from oak,” he says. “As a matter of fact, the tree is from the same family as oak used for barrels, so this closure is not neutral. It releases aromatic compounds and tannins (albeit in very small quantities) to the Champagne.”

Overall, these factors help to enhance the wine’s complexity, richness, and longevity. It also leads to a subtle reductive profile that Panaiotis describes as resembling lightly-grilled nuts, roasted coffee, or sourdough bread, and a delicate woodiness reminiscent of top white Burgundies.

Though this method yields incredible results, it doesn’t come without its challenges. “The cork closure requires a lot of extra work, particularly at disgorgement, which needs to be done manually, as opposed to mechanically with the crown cap.” Panaiotis says Ruinart used to disgorge 2,000 to 3,000 bottles per hour with the cap, but when working with a cork, it’s hard to do more than 100 per hour. Because the process is so intensive, only a few producers in Champagne have experimented with this type of aging.

Outside Champagne, wines aged in bottles are typically closed by a cork — so this whole process is commonplace. But for those considering whether or not a screw cap makes a difference in how a wine can taste, the data from this Champagne analysis shows that the type of closure does have an impact on the final wine.

*Image retrieved from yrabota via stock.adobe.com

The article Wait, Cork Can Add Flavor to My Wine? appeared first on VinePair.