Screwcap storage

ThE ExpERT ADviCE given around storing bottles under screwcap (7 April, Decanter.com) has little meaning. The benefit of screwcaps is that aluminium is practically impervious to oxygen and so there will be no exchange of gases between the stored wine and its environment under screwcap unless the materials in the closure are flawed.

My advice is that to prevent the migration of aluminium from the screwcap to the wine, you should always store bottles upright. This migration does take place as the material that makes the seal between the aluminium cap and the wine is inevitably flawed and some wine will be in contact with aluminium.

Reduce your exposure to aluminium by storing screwcap bottles upright. Christopher Exley PhD, Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry, Aluminium and Silicon Research Group, Keele University, Staffordshire