Hey Dan

My faithful readers, friends, and compatriots the world is once again in peril. I was having dinner with some friends last night and an interesting subject came up. The subject is very near and dear to my heart. The subject was romance, more specifically the romance of wine corks. The noble wine cork is in danger.

Wine is a growing industry with 30% sales increase over the last decade. In the wine industry, wine taint will effect between 5-10% of wines over a period of time. Wine taint is the musty or moldy odor that can spoil an otherwise fine wine. In natural cork, TCA is the problem. TCA is 2,4,6-trichloroanisole a fungus-produced compound that grows in cork fiber. Now if this does not seem like a lot, imagine Coke or Pepsi letting 10% of their product spoil before opening. The other problem is oxidation; the natural process that turns wine to vinegar; corks letting oxygen into a bottle can case this.

Kendall-Jackson plans to bottle the 2004 vintage of its Pepi brand with a Stelvin closure, also know as a screw top. Screw top closures are superior in keeping and aging wine. Now there is some debate on this subject, but most agree, screw top wine last better over long periods of time.

Therefore, corks are bad. Not really, most Americans drink wine within a shortly after purchasing it. Wine taint for these consumers is not a big problem for most consumers the numbers are 1-2%. Synthetic cork and better quality control of natural wood corks show real promise in both TCA and oxidation.

If you get a bottle that has gone bad, you know it right off. Yes, you may lose the amount of money you spent of that bottle of wine. But, for that price you get the pop of a cork in 99 other bottles of wine.

Opening a bottle of wine is an art. It is hard to get right and sometimes it goes wrong. The things that go wrong are all part of the character of wine. Yes the romance. It has little value to the product of wine, but life is not about value. Wine is a wonderful world of mystery and romance. Pulling a cork is part of that romance and opening a screw cap is not the same.

Now there is a compromise. The Saint Frances winery uses synthetic corks. It does not solve all the problems. In addition, it has not been tested for wines that need to be laid down over many years. This is a compromise solution. Use synthetic corks in wines that are meant to be dunk shortly after bottling and use natural corks in cellar wine. Screw cap can still be used on all ketchup bottles.

Long time readers may remember the long rant I did about naming ship after women. This is another one of those things. I believe that my desire to retain the romance of opening a bottle of wine is more important then being a ‘smart’ shopper.

More information soon on Glen's Wineshark.com site.