Impact of closures on wine post-bottling development: a review

Closures have an important influence on wine quality during ageing in bottle. The increasing diversity of wine stoppers and their effect in wine development after bottling has been a subject of intense research. This review focuses on the impact of closures on wine quality during bottle storage. Studies dealing with the effectiveness of closures in protecting wine quality during storage and research conducted in order to determine the impact of closures on wine organoleptic properties are discussed. Several types of closures are described and, more particularly, differences in their permeability leading to variable levels of oxygen in the bottle, the role of closures on the removal and/or addition of undesirable compounds from/to wine are critically reviewed.