Southern Coast Home Design - Index

Southern Coast Home Design - southerncoasthomedesign.com - Index

Continued fron page 19
But corks are not perfect. The main problem with corks is
"cork taint," caused by Trichloranisole, or "TCA," which presents
itself as a strong, musty, "attic-like" odor one sometimes experiences
when opening a bottle of wine. TCA is formed when a mold
that can naturally occur in the bark of cork trees combines with
chorine-based cleaning products. That's why so many vineyards
are serious about eliminating all cleaning products containing
bleach. In fact, most winemakers agree that as much as 5-10 percent
of their production can be affected, or "tainted," by TCA,
which significantly affects their bottom line, as consumers and
retailers naturally insist that "corked" bottles be replaced. Unlike
inert or neutral materials like plastic, corks suffer from problems
other than TCA, such as drying out, breaking, rotting, or otherwise
failing. While wine can suffer other defects, such as "brettanomyces"
or "brett," a yeast that gives wine a slightly musty or
earthy flavor, the odor and taste produced by TCA is unmistakable
and renders the wine undrinkable.
Enter screw caps, or "Stelvin" closers, and synthetic, polymerbased
stoppers. Stelvin-closers, more commonly known as "screwcaps,"
have become very popular in the past few years, particularly
in Australia and South Africa. And while many producers argue
that these closers eliminate the risk of a "corked" bottle of wine,
there are claims with that screwcaps can cause a pronounced smell
of sulfur. Some experts suggest that the sulfur dioxide used as a
preservative in the wine is not allowed to dissipate as it does in
cork-closed bottles, resulting in an excess amount of sulfur being
"trapped" in the bottle, leading to a "rotten-egg" smell when the
wine is opened. Others say this is all nonsense started by the procork
contingent.
As for "plastic corks," some complain that they are too hard to
open, as the plastic forms an extremely tight seal in the bottle. While
this ensures that the wine is unlikely to leak, experts question whether
this extra-tight seal will inhibit the exchange of oxygen so vital to the
slow maturing of some age-worthy wines. Still another criticism of
both screwcaps and synthetic corks is that the wines may become
imbued, over time, with a slight taste of plastic.
One company is marketing a glass wine stopper under the
moniker "Vino-Loc," and these attractive stoppers seem to do a nice
job of sealing the bottle. The question will be, as with screwcaps and
synthetic corks, how well will the wine age over time. Many wine
experts argue that the "tried and true" method of natural cork will be
hard to beat for wines intended for long-term storage.
After thousands of years, there remains no agreement among
experts as to what method is best to seal a wine bottle. Screwcaps
and synthetic corks have their place, but I would confine their use to
relatively inexpensive wines, intended to be drunk very soon. That
way, you avoid the risk that the plastic may degrade over time and
affect the taste of the wine. Glass stoppers may have their day, but
it's too early to tell, and I doubt they'll every completely displace
corks for expensive bottles.
In the final analysis, who wants to sit down to a fine meal, all set
to enjoy a nice bottle of wine from a top vintage, and simply twist the
top off or pull out a glass stopper? Hopefully there's a little romantic
in each of us that still enjoys the magic of watching as the wine key
is produced, the capsule carefully cut, the cork slowly, gracefully,
eased from the bottle, to reveal a perfectly aged Burgundy or
Bordeaux!
Ben Gordon is the owner of Aragon Wine Market, located at 27
South Ninth Avenue, Pensacola FL. Call the store at 850-433-9463.
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