Opening wine with a cork screw is quickly becoming a thing of the past and with 90% of local wine bottled with a screw cap new research shows the changing trend isn't just because the cap is an easy option.
A two year research project by the University of Auckland shows screw caps aren't just a convenient option - they're actually better than corks at preserving the fruity bouquet of sauvignon blanc.
"The screw cap wine can hold the components of sauvignon blanc better than the cork," says Dr Laura Nicolau.
A bottle of sauvignon blanc sealed with a cork lasts about 18 months. The same bottle with a screw cap will last twice as long.
And the majority of wine makers are starting to use the screw tops.
"We had about 30 or 40% which were prematurely ageing because a lot of corks were a little bit porous and they were letting too much oxygen in," says George Fistonich from Villa Maria.
"Since we have moved to corks we have got a 100% success rate and very few complaints," he says.
Screw cap bottles first appeared five years ago, now 100 million are sold each year here.
"Huge growth...we can almost not keep up with demand," says wine product manufacturer Stephan Jelicich.
"In the last three years it's been exponential for the whole country, we are seeing about 90% of the wines bottled this year under screw cap," Jelicich says.
So for the traditionalists the cork pop might not be around for much longer - except of course for your Christmas bubbly. Some things can never change.
