Sign of Intelligent Life

The New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative, which is now a decade old, reports that of the seven billion wine bottles sealed worldwide each year, the number using screwcaps has grown from an estimated 1 million in 21 to almost three billion in 21. According to the Initiative, “9 per cent of New Zealand wine is sealed this way, the eradication of cork and other closures in the local wine industry is on the horizon.” Despite a slow start in America, screwcaps are beginning to appear on better California bottles led by early adopter, Randall Graham, winemaker and founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard. “The New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative has, for some of us, been a sign of intelligent life in lands so very far away,” Graham said.