Champagne House To Test Out Metal Closures

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 17th 2009 at 8:01PM

Over the past few years the wine world has gotten accustomed to the idea that screwtop doesn't mean poor quality. Now could the champagne cork be replaced by a metal cap too? Duval-Leroy is planning to start selling bottles with aluminium tops later this year. The company will start off using the new metal cap on a few bottles of
Duval-Leroy's clos des Bouveries to see if the world is ready for champagne without popping a cork. The new cap was designed to deal with the intense pressure that builds up inside a champagne bottle. Canadian company Alcan Packaging won't reveal the new top until it is officially launched next month.

The move alarms traditionalists and indeed anyone for whom that distinctive sound, the hard pop followed by the soft fizz of bubbles, evokes a Pavlovian response. In the Telegraph, Chrystele Ivins, a spokesperson for Alcan in Paris, promises that the new top will still make a pop sound and that it will be easy to open. That at least is welcome news for anyone who has ever wrestled with a cork or had a dangerous misfire. The success of the new closure however will rely less on the utility of it and more on public reaction.

Tags: champagne, screwtop, wine

Filed under: Wine

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

C.S. Apr 17th 2009 10:01PM

If you open it right, the cork shouldn't make a pop. So the only people troubled by this would seem to be those who don't know enough about champagne to even open a bottle of it correctly.

Besides, if it's drama and pavlovian responses they want, they can always open it like Charles Heidsieck did: with a scimitar! But no . . . they'd rather just complain.

Kenneth Thomas Apr 17th 2009 10:45PM

So if this is successful, how soon will it be before a Champagne house will produce a 5 liter box? The Widow Clicquot must be rolling in her grave!

C.S. Apr 17th 2009 11:19PM

Kenneth, I don't think that a box would be the right thing for champagne -- contents under pressure and all. No, the thing to look for would be a five liter keg -- just like with cheap beer!

See, this kind of thing is how you tell the difference between wine lovers and wine snobs. If what's in the glass is the same (or better, since there's less spoilage when you get rid of corks) then a wine lover is happy. For the snob, what's in the glass is a secondary consideration to the process of placing himself in opposition to the rabble. As William Buckley said in another context, "standing athwart history, yelling 'stop'!" Good champagne in a keg would be pretty awesome -- you wouldn't have to worry about it going flat too quickly, for one thing.

And I think the Widow Cliquot would -- or should -- be far more distressed over (a) the fact that Cliquot is simply a brand in the LVMH portfolio; and (b) the deteriorating quality resulting from that state of affairs. Also, champagne of all wines should be the one embracing technological change -- after all, Dom Perignon's great contribution was not bubbles (in all likelihood, according to, I think, Jancis Robinson, although I'm too lazy to look it up) but the use of cork. He didn't use the cork because of the sound, he used it because it was cutting-edge technology which revolutionized the entire beverage industry. . . and it preserved the wine better than the hemp-and-oil plugs which were in use at the time. Now we've got a new cutting-edge technology which preserves wine better even than the cork. It only took us about 350 years.

Champagne is a wonderful wine, but it's purpose is expressed in the glass, on the tongue, and in the belly. Whatever happens prior is needless backstory --- complaining about it is like complaining that Dickens didn't adequately detail the manner of Marley's death.

Kenneth Thomas Apr 18th 2009 12:34AM

I disagree with you completely. Part of the allure of Champagne for me, is gently removing the cork from the bottle with a whisper before "it's purpose is expressed in the glass, on the tongue, and in the belly." The romance of the process (which is part of my enjoyment) would be lost poured from a keg regardless of the quality of the wine.

C.S. Apr 18th 2009 12:53AM

Kenneth, I have absolutely no doubt that part of the allure -- for you -- is as you describe. All sorts of people romanticize all sorts of silly things. There are, no doubt, legions yet unborn who will wax rhapsodic about the gentle whisper of the cap described above. Their emotional attachment will be just as misplaced as yours. Romanticizing a needless ritual is the apotheosis of style over substance. But hey, take heart, I imagine there will always be those winemakers who risk a bit of their yearly otput (for a little extra, of course) to cater to such hopeless romantics as yourself. After all, what price would you pay to feel just a little bit more special?

Kenneth Thomas Apr 18th 2009 1:19AM

C.S. must stand for "Cynically Suffering". My condolences.

inny Apr 18th 2009 2:45AM

Champagne has always been overrated...

to overcharge it.

Put a screw cap on it...

and you may as well drink it out of a plastic cup.

Hunter May 4th 2009 7:05PM

I see both your points of view, but for many imbibing and indulging in a celebratory fine bottle of champagne, and enjoying the distinctive qualities that make it "champagne" involve tradition, fluted glasses and the pop of the cork. Not a screw top!

That is what my clientele are after when they place an order http://www.bestchampagnedelivery.com/

Perhaps future generations will see it differently and will open their arms and their pocketbooks to a champagne with a metal closure.