Strange New Wine Closure.....

Opening a btl of Timorasso last night from Boveri, I found this new/weird artificial cork. Called Ardea Seal:
ArdeaSeal1
ArdeaSeal2

It’s an Italian product. Maybe the best artificial cork I yet seen, at least in terms of working w/ the corkscrew.
I expect we’ll be seeing more of these. Easy to identify by the bright red ring on the top when you remove the capsul.
Pics on the links.
Tom

Tom, you’re getting slow with your usually ability to follow things from the very start! I wrote about this 8 years ago (back when I actually used my blog)!!

Guess I missed that, Kyle. Don’t recall reading that.
Since this was the first one I’ve encountered, it seems that it’s slower to
penetrate the market than I would have expected.
Tom

Ponsot has been using this closure (somewhat controversially) for several years now. It seemed like a strange move to change over their entire production of long-lived wines to such a new technology.

Yup…seems kinda risky until you get some experience under your belt.
There’s a lot of folks who jumped on the NeoCork (soft/spongy cork w/ silicone based outer shell)
and Supreme Corq (hard plastic corks) bandwagon and lived to regret it. Those early stumbles may
be why the ArdeaSeal has been slow to penetrate the market.
Tom

I thought Ponsot’s was of his own design. To use such an unproven closure on grand cru Burgundies is in my mind unconscionable. I’d take the small chance of a corked red over this closure.

Tom,

might that bottle of Timorasso have been a Walter Massa? I remember opening a bottle of Massa’s Timorasso back in 2015 with such a closure, but the more recent vintages that I’ve had have sported traditional corks instead of these plastic thingamajigs.

Nope, Otto…wasn’t the WalterMassa (though we did have one of those), but the higher end Filari Timorasso from Boveri.
Tom

Hi Tom
I’ll await your TN on that wine with interest. I picked up a bottle of the 2014 just over a year ago (whilst having a 4 day grocery shop in Torino - you know just the basics [wink.gif] )
Regards
Ian

I will chime in on this one. A producer we represent nationally made the switch to this closure in 2003. They made the switch after the results of very vigorous data (similar to Ponsot, for you Alan).

Ponsot’s cloaures were not ‘custom’ any more than any other family who bottles under this closure.

Our experience has been empirically positive during these 14 vintages. All of the usual caveats, apply.

Why is this better than DIAM.

Is this a competition?

Just saw one for the first time at Hospice du Rhone last week. Matthieu Barret of Domaine Coulet was using it on his Billes Noires Cornas. He had a bowl of samples so I grabbed a few. Can’t tell you how it compares to other closures, but only that the 2012 and 2016 were excellent. My samples will simply be used for bottle stoppers for open bottles. For that, they work very well.

Cheers!

Steve

Even Masuizumi Sake aged in Ramonet’s Montrachet barrels have been using these at least as early as 2005 but have since returned to quality cork. Nasty plastic plug.

William,

Can you name the producer? It would be great to try a wine aged under this…especially if it was a red…

Of course it is a competition. I would think that producers would want the best closures for their wines, not one that is just good enough, assuming price is equal. If producers are doing rigorous studies, as you state, and determine to use these closures, I assume that they have concluded that they are better than other closures, at least for their wines.

Marc, belief’s and facts are not always the same.

Kevin, I honestly do not want to make this a commercial post.

Howard, with this line of reasoning, the closure would be an industrial valve, and every wine producer on this planet would utilize, no? (No malicious intent, honestly)

I guess time will tell how these work in the long run - just like any other ‘alternative closure’ rather than natural cork. The ‘proof’ will take time - but it would be interesting to read WHY these producers have chosen to use this versus other products out there.

Cheers.

Reasoning;

  1. Uniform oxygen ingress
  2. Benign impact on wine
  3. Longevity of the seal

Perfection? Absolutely not.

I agree.