Experts believe that one in 50 screwtop bottles — or 200,000 bottles worldwide — may be affected by a chemical process known as sulphidisation. When the metal cap is removed, the consumer is hit with a smell of sulphur — likened by some to burning rubber, spent matches or even a schoolboy stink bomb.

Shoppers are being advised to take extra care when choosing their wine, especially if it is to be laid down in a cellar.

The metal caps were brought in because faulty corks often failed to seal bottles and allowed the contents to go off or flat.

Experts believe that there is little problem with a screwcap white bought to be drunk straight away, but that storing metal-capped reds such as a pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon may prove disappointing.

Tests last autumn on 9,000 screwcap wines by the International Wine Challenge found that 2.2 per cent of bottles were affected by sulphidisation because the contents were not allowed to breathe.

Problems with wine bottles with traditional corks, including plastic stoppers, were found in 4.4 per cent of the wines.

Some industry figures heaped scorn on the results, saying that they were down only to the experience of the tasters.

But a leading wine analyst has confirmed that there is a problem.

Geoffrey Taylor, a wine chemist who tests 14,000 capped bottles a year, admitted that he had found sulphidisation. “Screwcap problems are around 2 per cent for Australia and double that elsewhere.”

Leading wine stores and supermarkets have been told to expect returns from unhappy customers.

Wine producers have also been given the results in an attempt to eradicate the problem, which occurs in the production process. Almost 90 per cent of New Zealand wines sold to the UK have metal caps.

Warren Adamson, the UK director of the New Zealand Wine & Grape Industry, said: “This is the first time any official figures have come out about the screwcap sulphide problems and it is very helpful for our producers and wine makers. However, New Zealand wines are only 1.7 per cent affected, 0.5 per cent below the mean average of 2.2 per cent.”

Sulphides exist naturally in wine. When they degrade they produce a compound called a thiol which is what gives sulphur its odour. Corks allow in oxygen, which “desulphides” the thiols and prevents them smelling. Sulphides can also be residing in bottles which have not been cleaned thoroughly. Screwcaps have tight-fitting seals which prevent air from getting in. Some wineries are working on designs with more room around the head of the bottle to allow air in.

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