Wine
Have you ever spent more than you should have on a good bottle of wine? You cellared that bottle of wine for years, waiting for that optimal time to open it and share it with friends, only to have the all too familiar foul smell of must, mold, even a cardboard smell overtake your senses and ruin the experience? Numerous tests and personal experience have shown that as much as 10% of all the bottles of wine that incorporate natural corks fall victim to cork taint and some even to oxidation. This dilemma can be even worse, as James Laube points out “In a retrospective tasting of 1991 vintage Cabernets, nearly 15 percent of the wines tasted were spoiled by bad corks”(Laube). Winemakers and people in the wine industry have always known about this flaw in natural wood corks, yet have been forced to continue using them on their own product due to the lack of other options available. As the time has gone by some possible alternatives have been presented to winemakers and the general public like jugs with cheap metal screw caps intended for short term storage, a box where the wine is stored in a plastic bag, and plastic or synthetic corks which don’t go through the same process which when natural corks have a run a high risk of becoming . . .
This is evident now with Plumpjack setting the benchmark by offering their Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, a $135 a bottle, with a screw cap. Since it appears the dilemmas of cork taint and oxidation of wine bottled with natural cork are fixed by using the screw cap method, it’s safe to say that we have only seen the beginning of the screw cap. As common knowledge this small amount of oxygen has no negative effect, and has otherwise been left as is, but if the amount of oxygen increases, it can reach a detrimental level, where it can affect the wine in negative ways, most commonly known as oxidation. But how safe is it? Natural wood corks have certainly shown that they have a weak side. “The Stelvin is generally considered state-of-the-art in screwcap technology”(Walker 02). This may not seem that bad for the farmers but, The dehesa is home to a plethora of wildlife including many kinds of birds that depend on the shade provided by the cork trees. These forests are old and if they are cleared for farming other agriculture it could upset the entire ecosystem around them. ‘Whites are more susceptible to oxidation – they’re technical wines that need technical closures’”(Flauchald,Bordeaux). Screw caps have proven that this airtight seal works great for white wines that are not typically fermented or aged in oak barrels, and according to Tim Fish with Wine Spectator Magazine, Australia’s Largest wine family agrees, he reported “Screw caps will be used on Reisling for all Southcorp brands, including Penfolds, Rosemount and Wynn’s Coonawarra Estate, which the company ships in significant quantities”(Fish). This seal is sure to stay intact due to the durable metal used for the outside of the screw cap. What makes it state-of-the-art is its design, “What seals the bottle in a modern screw cap closure is a multiplayer wad of soft plastic on either side of a thin layer of foil. Oxidation can vary from slightly altering the taste of a wine to making a wine spoil, giving it a sour smell and taste and imparting a brownish color to the wine. This perfect seal may have a downfall as well, being too perfect. The entire controversy over the natural cork is about quality, and it is hard to imagine that the wine industry can hold on to the natural cork much longer.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
