高级酒用螺旋盖装瓶时的质量控制问题.docVIP

高级酒用螺旋盖装瓶时的质量控制问题 来源：/JulAug05/julaug05p33.htm This article is from the July/August 2005 issue of Practical Winery Vineyard Magazine. Order current or back issues here. PACKAGING JULY/AUGUST 2005 BY Henry Work Plumpjack Winery (Oakville, CA) offered premium Cabernet Sauvignon in bottles sealed with screwcaps in the late 1990s. Since then, PlumpJack’s continued success has opened a lot of eyes, and the premium wine industry has begun to consider use of screwcaps.Another winery shifting to screwcaps is Hogue Cellars (Prosser, WA). David Forsyth (director of winemaking) stated in June 2004 (after completing a 2 1/2-year closure study), “Bottling our wines with screwcaps will yield tremendous benefits: elimination of cork taint, consistent and appropriate ageing, lower SO2 levels at bottling, and greater ease in opening bottles.”Screwcaps, however, are not new. Threaded aluminum ROTE (Roll-on, tamper-evident) or ROPP (Roll-on, pilfer-proof) closures were introduced in the 1960s. Researchers at Dow Chemical in 1933 discovered polyvinylidene chloride, the main material in the liner-seal that is in contact with wine, subsequently branded as “Saran” and “Saranex” (Saran sandwiched between layers of polyethlylene or polyethylene-vinylacetate). When a tin/saran liner is used, it is the tin layer that creates a barrier to oxygen ingress.Wineries such as EJ Gallo (Modesto, CA) have been producing wines with screwcap in their economy and beverage categories for more than 30 years, notes Mary Wagner, chief technical officer. “In Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, wine under screwcap has been popular for more than 30 years,” reports George Thomson (Crown Cork/United Closures Plastics [UCP] in the United Kingdom).With an increasing demand for screwcaps, more suppliers are entering the marketplace. This report will examine quality control factors and standards for the three critical legs in screwcap usage: screwcap suppliers and manufacturers, critical facto