Stelvin Closure

That’s no ordinary screw cap you see on Prairie Berry wine. It’s a Stelvin® closure. What’s so great about it? Well, Robert M. Parker Jr., the world’s foremost wine guru reports, “More and more state-of-the-art wineries are moving to screw caps... Stelvin, the screw cap of choice will become the standard for the majority of the world’s wines.”

Better than corks?

Absolutely... or we wouldn’t be using them. Natural corks are sometimes known to contaminate wine and compromise its flavor. It’s called “cork taint” and can give wine a moldy cardboard taste which affects up to 15% of all wine. For that reason winemakers have been experimenting with synthetic corks which seem to minimize the possiblilty of cork taint. Both natural and synthetic corks allow oxygen into the bottle, natural corks on an inconsistent basis, making the resulting aging of the wine inconsistent. Plus, many people find corks, especially synthetics, difficult to remove.

At the conclusion of a four-year study by Hogue Cellars of Washington, screw cap closures were proven to hold fruit character and maintain freshness more effectively than both natural and synthetic corks.

In a study by the Australian Wine Research Institute, published in 2001, all wine closures were compared in a study of white wines after 20 months in the bottle, and it was found that wines were better preserved with screw caps than synthetic or natural corks.

Four years ago, less than 1% of New Zealand wines were bottled with screw caps. By the end of 2005, that number is projected to be 90%.

We want you to understand that our choice for Stelvin here at Prairie Berry Winery is a choice for quality. Because for us, good taste is essential, and we strive to deliver it in every bottle. So toss the corkscrew...and enjoy.