Are there any scientific advantages to using a cork to stop a wine bottle? Although I am by no means a connoisseur (I don't really even drink it) I have been investigating the various means by which wine bottles are stopped up.

This was prompted by a negative reaction by a more dipsomanic friend to a screw top wine that I had purchased from my local off licence. The impression I got from him was that a bottle with a cork was less... tacky. And that somehow a bottle with a screw top gave him the impression of teens in parks drinking Lambrini through straws.

I have read a few articles online here, and here which seem to show some benefits to screw top bottles (namely that they aren't affected by TCA and are easier to open).

I have not been able to find any resources which show an actual benefit to the wine that comes from using cork. The usual pros listed include the fact that it supports natural cork plantations (an ethical consideration) or that it just seems to be more sophisticated.

So, is there any reason (when only considering taste) that cork should be used over a screw top?
If a wine maker loves their wine, and their customers, they will use screw caps. All the studies have come back positive for screw caps. See screw cap initiative for starters.

Some main points are:


Corks taint the wine
Corks, real or synthetic, have a very high failure rate. Screw caps are basically 100% effective (maybe too effective)
Wine ages better with a screw cap, as there is no chance of seal failure or tainting
Screw caps have been physically tested for over 30 years, and are designed to last longer than that
You can cellar wine bottles at any angle
The energy used in making a recyclable (aluminium) screw cap is significantly less than used in making a cork
Most corks aren't made in ethical plantations
No special tools are required to open and recap a bottle (cork knives can be a serious health hazard later in the evening).
Wines age more safely. Corks do not breathe, but they may shrink and let wine out (bottles stored on side). Good vineyards will re-cork cellared wine every 20 to 25 years, or when corks start failing. The wine is topped up to the correct level, and often the wine/cork gap is flooded with nitrogen to avoid oxygen contamination which will "soften" the wine.


All in all, some pretty convincing reasons to go with screw caps.