What’s the Best Wine Closure? Natural Cork

Every bottle of Jordan wine crafted since the inaugural 1976 vintage has been sealed with a natural cork. Over the years, small experiments have been conducted with other types of wine closures, such as screw caps, but Winemaker Rob Davis and I deem high-quality natural cork to be the best wine closure to allow our long-lived wines to breathe and evolve over time. Because of our dedication to natural cork, Portugal’s Cork Coalition approached us recently and asked if I’d talk on camera about why we choose cork for our wines.

Fifty percent of the world’s cork supply comes from Portugal, with several different grades of quality available to wineries. Jordan only purchases the top three percent of wine corks—the highest quality grade available worldwide. Most wineries spend about 30 cents per bottle on a cork. Jordan pays $1.01 per cork. The expensive corks, when combined with our rigorous cork quality testing methods, help keep cork taint instances to a minimum. Learn more about Jordan’s focus on cork quality.