To help clarify...natural cork allows air exchange between the wine inside the bottle & the air surrounding the bottle. (even through the plastic 'seal', which has 2 holes pierced through it) This allows fermentation to continue very gradually, "aging" the wine. Aging wine develops the flavour to be rich and sometimes a little earthy. You'll also notice on an aged wine, that they sometimes offer a very "alcohol-ish" nose ~ which decanting will soften. Please note however, that not every wine is made to age.
A screw cap or synthetic cork produces an ultimate seal. No air exchange. Seeing a screw cap on a wine does not at all indicate the quality of the wine; it just means that it is ready to drink. The winemakers have looked after any of the potential flavour development and the wine is now at its peak flavour and ready to be enjoyed. Keeping this wine around won't generally benefit the wine. It's not that the wine will expire, becoming un-drinkable; but after a few years (maybe 4?) the wine will begin to lose it's finish, and its overall flavour won't be as good as it was at first.
Generally speaking, natural cork is in short supply in the world. It only grows in Europe, and after a tree has been corked, it must have 15 years to rejuvenate itself before it can be corked again. With the growing numbers of wineries, the thinning cork supply has caused is winemakers to be a bit more discriminating about which wines will actually benefit from the cork. If the wine wasn't designed for aging then it would get the screw cap or synthetic cork, leaving the natural cork supply to be used on the wines that will benefit from aging.
Even wines appropriate for aging may not be suitable to keep around forever :) If in doubt, around 10 years from the harvest year will be good. Of course there are exceptions to that, but I would check with the place from where you are getting the wine to be sure.
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