History and Revival of Screwcaps
Wine of the Week - History and Revival of Screwcaps
“However, in the last 50 years, screwcaps have been widely used on wine bottles. The first seals used were found to be not satisfactory. It wasn’t until the introduction of the Stelvin screwcap, developed in the late fifties by the French manufacturer, La Bouchage Mecanique and now the registered trademark of Pea-Pechiney, a French manufacturer of bottle seals, that the seal became to be recognised as a quality product.
“The long skirted Stelvin screwcap was developed specifically for the wine bottle and was developed from the Stelcap design which was used on wine bottles but not specifically designed for wine bottles.”
The idea that the consumer is going to switch from cork seals to screwtop caps is folly but it’s fun to watch the industry take a run at this idea every so often. The problem isn’t with the seal it’s with Gallo and the low-end wine makers who adopted screwtops as a cost saver decades ago and have since become associated with screw tops. The association cannot be broken and wouldn’t be even if Chateau Lafite used screw tops. Wineries that try using screw tops are playing with fire regarding their image. Luckily new plastics are being developed that can replace some cork and still maintain the mystique.
They’ve tried to sell wine in cans too.