Zork wine closure pops into UK

A new wine closure that seals like a screwcap but pops like a cork has arrived in the UK. The Zork closure was developed four years ago in Adelaide in Australia to help solve the problem of cork taint and random oxidation associated with natural corks. It has been in high-volume production for just over a year and now debuts in the UK sealing d’Arenberg’s Cadenzia from McLaren Vale. John Brooks, the company’s Technical Director, told the UK Wine Show that this new closure is unique because, ‘It preserves a lot of the wine-opening experience of a cork and it preserves your wine with the same sort of consistency that a screwcap does.’

The closure is made of three parts. A plastic cap snaps over the mouth of the bottle, inside it is a plunger that creates the pop on extraction and, between these two, aluminium foil provides the important oxygen barrier. John said, ‘Every closure has a compromise,’ but he explained that the Zork has a lot of advantages. The compromise is that it is more expensive to produce that synthetic corks and screwcaps but on the plus side, ‘Zork tends to age your wine much more like a good quality, very consistent cork,’ he said. And bottles don’t need to be stored on their side because the seal isn’t dependent on the wine being in contact with it, as it is for natural cork. Furthermore, the Zork will also reseal the bottle for convenience, although not for airtightness, in between pouring. All in all, John said the Zork was not only a very consistent closure, but also a versatile one.

D’Arenberg’s Cadenzia is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre and is available through ThirtyFifty.