Put a cork in it....Seriously
As per the sub-title of this blog, this is a forum in which I will pipe off on just about anything but mostly my life and wine. And since the two are inseparable at this point, the life and wine go hand in hand. It is now that I will try to go about explaining my take on the controversy(?) of cork vs. Synthetic closure vs. Alternative closure vs. stelvin closure. I know that enough ink has yet to be afforded this issue so here goes with my $.02.
Depending on who you talk to and who you believe the idea of sticking a piece of bark into a bottle and hoping for the best is 17th century technology and, as such, should be abandoned immediately. I dispute this categorically because I have seen other examples of technology from this period and they literally are still standing. Here in Savannah you can't pay a carpenter to build a box and be sure it will be square - and he went to school to learn how. This is not to say that advances have not been made, they have, I'm just not convinced that 50,000,000 Elvis fans can be wrong.
To make a short story long, the root of the controversy between cork and synthetics lies with a chemical compound known to the white coats as 2, 4, 6 tri-chloro-anisole or as the kids call it - TCA. It's presence is caused during the cleaning of the harvested cork bark (on its way to becoming a cork) and is responsible for what can be moldy or off-putting aromatics in wine. This is what someone is referring to when they say the wine is "corked" or has "cork taint". As you might think, this is not exactly a desirable element. So logic rules that no cork, no TCA, no problem. It is here that the soup starts to get a little murky.
It has long been my contention that the percentage rates thrown around concerning corkage are far overblown. I have many hunches as to why, but first and foremost is my personal experience. For the past 5.5 years I have consumed anywhere from 4 - 8 bottles of wine a week and taste from 15 - 30 wines as well. Before you call A.A., let me explain. My finacial adviser and myself have at least 3 if not 4 meals together every week. We jointly consume at least one bottle with dinner and sometimes have a bottle while cooking. I taste constantly at the shop so as to ensure I stay one step ahead of the monkeys. In this period of time I can honestly say that less that 30 of the wines I have encountered showed signs of cork taint. This is far less than the numbers that the "experts" throw around ranging from 5% to 25%. I believe that my numbers are far more realistic. And apparently, I am not alone
The disparity between my own experiences and the rest of the world could have myriad causes. One could be that I don't know what wine "should" taste like, good or bad. While my friends in California might make this argument, I disagree. It is true that I have my preferences and favor certain styles of wine over others, but I know when a wine is flawed. Another could be that some wines are more likely to show cork taint (if present) than others. This is true and especially with German Riesling. However, I drink a great deal of German Rieslings and my numbers are far below what "they" claim to be the norm. Lastly it might just be that the proof is not really in the pudding.
First off, what could cause cork taint numbers to be so high. An easy explanation would be that the producers of cork are asleep at the wheel, and quality control is in the tank. I doubt it. A very large portion of Portugal as well as Spain rely on the cork trade for income. There are very strict laws concerning the treatment of cork oaks and how and when they are harvested.
Another explanation is that the numbers have been adjusted to protect the innocent, i.e. the drinking public that honestly doesn't know good wine from bad. This is a factor in the final numbers but is subject to great manipulation depending on your dog in the fight. Which leads us to the last reason, the people putting out the numbers are also selling the alternative.
Remember when they said you weren't supposed to refill your empty Dasani bottle with water from the tap because it would kill you and everything right and decent in the world?
So here's the poop from where I'm standing. Cork taint is real and it does spoil what someone somewhere told you was the greatest bottle of wine ever made. However not as often as is commonly thought. A real world example is what happened many times was ina restaurant where I once worked.
Joe Bigshot just got done reading his second issue of Wine Spectator and then decided to come in for dinner. Spectator had an article about the wines of Bandol and he wants to show his "friends" how much he knows. So he orders a bottle, never having had a wine from this region and having already forgotten what Spectator said about the style of wines made here. I pour him a taste and lo and behold there is a certain fecal aromatic to the juice (Parker would call this "barnyard" and if you like that fine, I call a spade a spade). Quick not to show a lack of knowledge and embarrass himself in front of his guests, Joe Bigshot announces that the wine is corked. Once the words have started along the path from the brain to the mouth there is no convincing otherwise. So I take the bottle away and suggest something that will be more agreeable not only with their palates but the meal as well. Bottle and glass return to the bar where I taste the wine and it is true to form, no problems whatsoever.
Now in my case, one of two scenarios plays out. I keep the bottle for myself, drinking it after work or with the servers to educate them, or the other side of the restaurant instantly has a new wine by the glass. Either way, more people learn about the wine and Mr. Bigshot keeps his crown.
However, in most restaurants it's a different story. Fortunately I don't work in most restaurants. Unfortunately, most restaurants don't have someone like me. The bottle goes on a shelf in the kitchen and sits there for a week or two until the manager calls his sales rep to turn in a corked wine. At this point the wine is now vinegar and no one is going to have the wine tested for true cork taint. The sales rep takes the bottle back and the distributor then issues an invoice to the producer claiming a bad bottle or two or twelve. One can see how this could get out of hand very quickly.
As far as the whole thing is concerned, I have no real problem with synthetic or stelvin (screw-cap) closures. They make perfect sense for cheap plonk that's going to be gulped down with hamburgers and your mother-in-law's cheese ball. Why waste the money on a nice cork and risk personal injury with a cork-screw? However, when it comes to wines that are age worthy, I want a cork. I don't care if the potential for TCA is going to disappoint me 20 years down the road. The reality is that the wine was corked when I bought it regardless of how long I lay it down. With synthetic closures, nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Yet, it's the pourous nature of cork that assists in the aging process allowing a certain amount of fluxuation of air in and out of the bottle. And as far as the screw-cap is concerned, have you ever had a year old Budweiser? The technology is not time tested enough for me to subscribe.
In the end, wine is a living thing and like all living things are subject to influence. I don't assume to believe that I can control everything, but that's part of the enjoyment of wine. You never know what you will find inside the bottle.
Depending on who you talk to and who you believe the idea of sticking a piece of bark into a bottle and hoping for the best is 17th century technology and, as such, should be abandoned immediately. I dispute this categorically because I have seen other examples of technology from this period and they literally are still standing. Here in Savannah you can't pay a carpenter to build a box and be sure it will be square - and he went to school to learn how. This is not to say that advances have not been made, they have, I'm just not convinced that 50,000,000 Elvis fans can be wrong.
To make a short story long, the root of the controversy between cork and synthetics lies with a chemical compound known to the white coats as 2, 4, 6 tri-chloro-anisole or as the kids call it - TCA. It's presence is caused during the cleaning of the harvested cork bark (on its way to becoming a cork) and is responsible for what can be moldy or off-putting aromatics in wine. This is what someone is referring to when they say the wine is "corked" or has "cork taint". As you might think, this is not exactly a desirable element. So logic rules that no cork, no TCA, no problem. It is here that the soup starts to get a little murky.
It has long been my contention that the percentage rates thrown around concerning corkage are far overblown. I have many hunches as to why, but first and foremost is my personal experience. For the past 5.5 years I have consumed anywhere from 4 - 8 bottles of wine a week and taste from 15 - 30 wines as well. Before you call A.A., let me explain. My finacial adviser and myself have at least 3 if not 4 meals together every week. We jointly consume at least one bottle with dinner and sometimes have a bottle while cooking. I taste constantly at the shop so as to ensure I stay one step ahead of the monkeys. In this period of time I can honestly say that less that 30 of the wines I have encountered showed signs of cork taint. This is far less than the numbers that the "experts" throw around ranging from 5% to 25%. I believe that my numbers are far more realistic. And apparently, I am not alone
The disparity between my own experiences and the rest of the world could have myriad causes. One could be that I don't know what wine "should" taste like, good or bad. While my friends in California might make this argument, I disagree. It is true that I have my preferences and favor certain styles of wine over others, but I know when a wine is flawed. Another could be that some wines are more likely to show cork taint (if present) than others. This is true and especially with German Riesling. However, I drink a great deal of German Rieslings and my numbers are far below what "they" claim to be the norm. Lastly it might just be that the proof is not really in the pudding.
First off, what could cause cork taint numbers to be so high. An easy explanation would be that the producers of cork are asleep at the wheel, and quality control is in the tank. I doubt it. A very large portion of Portugal as well as Spain rely on the cork trade for income. There are very strict laws concerning the treatment of cork oaks and how and when they are harvested.
Another explanation is that the numbers have been adjusted to protect the innocent, i.e. the drinking public that honestly doesn't know good wine from bad. This is a factor in the final numbers but is subject to great manipulation depending on your dog in the fight. Which leads us to the last reason, the people putting out the numbers are also selling the alternative.
Remember when they said you weren't supposed to refill your empty Dasani bottle with water from the tap because it would kill you and everything right and decent in the world?
So here's the poop from where I'm standing. Cork taint is real and it does spoil what someone somewhere told you was the greatest bottle of wine ever made. However not as often as is commonly thought. A real world example is what happened many times was ina restaurant where I once worked.
Joe Bigshot just got done reading his second issue of Wine Spectator and then decided to come in for dinner. Spectator had an article about the wines of Bandol and he wants to show his "friends" how much he knows. So he orders a bottle, never having had a wine from this region and having already forgotten what Spectator said about the style of wines made here. I pour him a taste and lo and behold there is a certain fecal aromatic to the juice (Parker would call this "barnyard" and if you like that fine, I call a spade a spade). Quick not to show a lack of knowledge and embarrass himself in front of his guests, Joe Bigshot announces that the wine is corked. Once the words have started along the path from the brain to the mouth there is no convincing otherwise. So I take the bottle away and suggest something that will be more agreeable not only with their palates but the meal as well. Bottle and glass return to the bar where I taste the wine and it is true to form, no problems whatsoever.
Now in my case, one of two scenarios plays out. I keep the bottle for myself, drinking it after work or with the servers to educate them, or the other side of the restaurant instantly has a new wine by the glass. Either way, more people learn about the wine and Mr. Bigshot keeps his crown.
However, in most restaurants it's a different story. Fortunately I don't work in most restaurants. Unfortunately, most restaurants don't have someone like me. The bottle goes on a shelf in the kitchen and sits there for a week or two until the manager calls his sales rep to turn in a corked wine. At this point the wine is now vinegar and no one is going to have the wine tested for true cork taint. The sales rep takes the bottle back and the distributor then issues an invoice to the producer claiming a bad bottle or two or twelve. One can see how this could get out of hand very quickly.
As far as the whole thing is concerned, I have no real problem with synthetic or stelvin (screw-cap) closures. They make perfect sense for cheap plonk that's going to be gulped down with hamburgers and your mother-in-law's cheese ball. Why waste the money on a nice cork and risk personal injury with a cork-screw? However, when it comes to wines that are age worthy, I want a cork. I don't care if the potential for TCA is going to disappoint me 20 years down the road. The reality is that the wine was corked when I bought it regardless of how long I lay it down. With synthetic closures, nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Yet, it's the pourous nature of cork that assists in the aging process allowing a certain amount of fluxuation of air in and out of the bottle. And as far as the screw-cap is concerned, have you ever had a year old Budweiser? The technology is not time tested enough for me to subscribe.
In the end, wine is a living thing and like all living things are subject to influence. I don't assume to believe that I can control everything, but that's part of the enjoyment of wine. You never know what you will find inside the bottle.
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