There was a time when all wine bottles were sealed with a cork but now it seems more common to see only screw cap wines on the shelf.
Initially screw cap closures were seen as OK for white wine with a very short shelf life however there is now more acceptance of this type of closure for all types, except sparkling.
It all seems a bit confusing, so lets take a step back and see what has happened to bring about this change.
Cork has been used as a closure for bottled wine for centuries however this has come with a price.
As it is a natural product, the quality of the cork could vary from bottle to bottle.
With a poor quality cork, the result would often mean excessive oxygen entering the bottle and destroying the precious wine inside.
To counteract the varying quality of cork there were specific methods used to give the cork the best chance of survival.
Ensuring that the bottle was stored upright for 24 hours after the cork was applied would give it the best chance of settling into the bottle and sealing properly.
Different sizes of cork were tried with longer corks, known as 'Chateau length', applied to higher quality wines.
Unfortunately for cork, the clock was ticking.
With some wine makers looking for a way to remove the risk of the cork failing, the screw cap closure was introduced 10 years ago.
It was initially applied to Riesling only, but the demand increased as supermarkets wanted to deliver the kind of consistency that screw cap guarantees.
This saw a much wider use of screw caps across all wines, including reds meant for cellaring.
Research in both France and Australia has proved that wines can bottle well without a cork closure as maturation can be achieved without oxygen.
At first, the average wine drinker was skeptical as screw cap wine was often associated with the cheaper bottles.
However, as with most convenient items, wine drinkers started to realize that not only did wine mature well without a cork closure, they also began to consider the cork a bit of a nuisance! Waiting staff stopped carrying cork screws and it was no longer necessary to remember the cork screw when going on picnics.
With attitudes changing, wineries all over the world started to select the convenience of non cork closures confident that their wine would taste just as good for the consumer.
Some may debate this, however the fact is, that screw caps are here to stay.