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Which wines do you close with a screw cap?
How a wine bottle is sealed influences the maturation and shelf life of the wine after bottling. The decisive factor is how much air (and thus oxygen, which reacts with the sensitive aromatic substances in the wine) can penetrate the bottle through the closure. The more the wine is exposed to oxygen, the faster it matures - or in the negative case, degenerates.
The screw cap is, according to unanimous opinion, the most practical and best way to close a wine bottle. It is completely tight and extremely durable, can be opened without tools and - a very big advantage - closed again as often and reliably as desired, and it offers one hundred percent protection against cork taint. Since it is increasingly being scientifically recognised that the air remaining in the bottle after bottling is sufficient for the further maturation of the wine, screw caps are also suitable for wines in need of maturation without hesitation.
Screw caps are made of metal - usually aluminium - and are lined on the inside with a sealing, thin layer of plastic or tin. Because the screw cap is so simple and relatively cheap, for a long time it was mainly used to seal wines of basic quality. Its image has suffered as a result. For several years, however, wines of all quality levels have been fitted with screw caps, especially in German-speaking countries, and this type of closure is also becoming more common in other, tradition-conscious countries such as France.