OUR EDITORIAL TEAM SEARCHED for a new earth-shaking trend in closures for this issue but didn’t find one. What they did find was not one trend but several, all going in different directions and gaining speed as they go.

Contributing editor Jane Firstenfeld covers packaging as a regular reporting beat, so when she caught up with a number of winery marketing pros and closure suppliers for her article, “Topping the Bottle,” the news was familiar but still exciting:

• Natural corks continue to make strides in TCA prevention, most notably in the relatively new methods for screening individual corks for TCA and culling them before they can leave the factory.

• Ways to remove the TCA from agglomerated corks also continue to progress.

• “Synthetic” stoppers might need a new name. This designation might not be accurate anymore for closures made from non-cork materials, since the leading company is now making them from sugar cane plants instead of plastic. They’re also certified as having zero carbon footprint, and that just doesn’t sound synthetic.

• The decoration capability of capsules keeps getting more elaborate, Firstenfeld writes, but on the other hand some wineries are simply skipping the capsule and letting the stopper show through bare glass. Her article is a good source of ideas for anyone thinking about shaking up their brand’s packaging.

The other closures story in the issue is by columnist Andy Starr, who presents mini case studies describing “How Wineries Choose Their Closures.” Starr, who once managed a closure company startup, interviewed winemakers at four wineries and the brand manager at a fifth to see what drove their closure decisions. Some use multiple closure types, and all lean heavily on what closure suits the taste and quality of their wine most closely.

Beyond closures, don’t miss two different but extremely significant articles about vineyard soil and terroir in this issue. Regular columnist and California ag extension advisor Glenn McGourty explains in his Grounded Grapegrowing piece the transition from the concept of “soil quality” to “soil health” in the ag community. Also, renowned professor of viticulture Cornelis “Kees” van Leeuwen and his team detail what their research has revealed about terroir expression in Bordeaux.

Finally, Pinot Noir is the topic in two articles, one from Oregon and one from upstate New York. First-time contributor L. M. Archer puts the Willamette Valley’s new Lingua Franca Wines production facility under the “Technical Spotlight,” while Ray Pompilio writes in the Wine East section about a French-American Pinot Noir-making effort in the Finger Lakes.

Don’t miss the Packaging Conference