Jacob's Creek goes fully screwcap November 24, 2006
Alex Christie-Miller
Jacob's Creek is to put its entire UK range under screw-cap, including its flagship Johann Shiraz Cabernet.
The Heritage range, including the Centenery Hill Shiraz and St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet, all priced at up to £25 a bottle, will also be switched to screwcap. The highly-regarded Johann sells for £40.
As of November, these will all be switched from cork to screwcap closures. The Johann is currently on the 2001 vintage so it will not be seen under screwcap for a few years.
Adrian Atkinson of Pernod Ricard UK, which owns Jacob's Creek, said that the decision was in response to the 'concurrent demands of retailers, consumers and the Jacob's Creek winemaking team.'
'Consumers increasingly associate screw cap wines with quality', Atkinson said.
A recent poll conducted on behalf of Pernod Ricard suggested increasing consumer confidence in screw-cap wine. 68% of those asked said they were 'quite likely' or 'very likely' to buy wine under screw-cap within the next three months.
Jacob's Creek is the top-selling Australian wine brand in the UK, with a 13.3% market volume share.
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It is no surprise that one of Australia's largest producers of wine is converting to aluminium screw caps. Within the developed world Australia is one of the last great strongholds of the International Aluminium Industry, an industry with immense lobbying power both within the Australian government and within the Australian wine writers fraternity...see for example, James Halliday's continuous support of screw caps within almost every column he writes in Decanter Magazine. (Has any conflict of interest been declared here?)
Congratulations once again to the aluminium industry. They will succeed in bringing yet another product to market which has not undergone any independent assessment of its potential danger to human health. Drinking any beverage from any container which uses aluminium in its packaging will result in some of that aluminium contaminating the product and hence contaminating the brain of the consumer. Drinking wine which is stored under aluminium screw caps will put aluminium into your brain, (yes, Mr Halliday, it is true!!), the only question is how much additional aluminium we will consume because of the use of screw caps? If aluminium screw caps are safe to use then why has there not been any research on their safety? Would Jacob's Creek bottle their range of wines under lead seals? Twenty-five years ago they probably would have done only to regret their actions today. How long before they will regret their use of aluminium screw caps? Chris Exley, Keele University, Staffs, UK
Here I was supposing that the plastic coating on the inside of the screw cap would stop any reaction. Looking at Chris's website, he seems like quite an expert in the Aluminum biochem field. Leaving aside the pot shot at Halliday and the absurd link with the aluminum industry, has he ever tested a screw cap wine for Aluminum or reactive products thereof? Have any wine sealant researchers? Yalumba has quite a few old bottles under stelvin that could be tested. Comalco might stump up the cash for testing. Larry Dines
I have read some rubbish in my life, but it is surprising to see someone like Chris Exley, who is a scientist with a no less than a PhD, produces such unmitigated garbage, which completely ignores the facts to push his own agenda.
The conversion to screwcaps in Australia has got absolutely nothing to do with the power of the aluminium industry or any of their lobbying groups. Likewise, it has absolutely nothing to do with government.
The conversion to was screwcaps in Australia was sparked by a tiny number of producers in the Clare Valley, who were sick and tired of seeing their wine ruined by cork failure. These produces started sealing their Riesling under screwcap. It caught on, and whilst the wine press may have supported the move, it was certainly not because they were in the employ or were being lobbied by the cork industry. It caught on because the consumers like the fact they can buy a wine that was not going to have a 5-8% chance of being wrecked by a tree bark plug.
As far as is the Australian wine fraternity being influenced by the aluminium industry, as someone who is in constant contact with a number of Australian wine writers, I can tell you Chris's assertions are completely false and based on nothing but his own prejudice.
The screwcaps being produced today have an inert plastic seal between the wine and the aluminium, so there is no contact between the two products.
Chris then asks, “Would Jacob's Creek bottle their range of wines under lead seals? Twenty-five years ago they probably would have done only to regret their actions today.” How Chris can decide the Orlando (owners of Jacob's Creek 25 years ago) would have used lead seals is beyond logical comprehension. But as the rest of his comments indicate, he is not afraid of drawing false conclusions and letting facts get in the way of his own prejudice. Ric Einstein, torbwine.com
Cork taint is not that big driving force towards screwcaps as Ric Einstein and many australian winemakers let us believe. So the industry making the screw caps are a powerful player. Cork taint is a smaller problem "today" - i you want it to be - than "yesterday". If you would like to use natural cork you'll have a choice between cheap bad corks and better qualities of analyzed natural corks. Today you can actually but virtually cork-taint free natural corks.
Sabate also has a process for complete cork taint removal that they use for agglomerate corks, so there are options today. Lars Jonsson, Chemist and Sommelier, Sweden
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It is no surprise that one of Australia's largest producers of wine is converting to aluminium screw caps. Within the developed world Australia is one of the last great strongholds of the International Aluminium Industry, an industry with immense lobbying power both within the Australian government and within the Australian wine writers fraternity...see for example, James Halliday's continuous support of screw caps within almost every column he writes in Decanter Magazine. (Has any conflict of interest been declared here?)
