Cork taint in wine should be a thing of the past

I can't quite understand why wineries continue to use those cheap particle corks these days, when screw cap closures are commonplace and have gone fully mainstream. Another corked wine yesterday: the bouquet struggled to be noticed in what was a wholly unnecessary death match between itself and the rank TCA. And—why? Wines meant for early consumption shouldn't be closed with particle corks. Even if taint isn't specifically limited to these corks (it can happen to solid ones too), at least a whole subset of wines would be saved from ruin if properly safeguarded.

[Robin Garr]

No kidding, Paul! When I see a wine under a particle cork, I assume a corner-cutting attitude, and it gives me little faith in the wine in the bottle.

The only possible gotcha is DIAM and other technical corks, which look like particle corks but have (almost?) entirely eliminated cork taint. I use the parentheses only because, while I have never personally found a corked wine under DIAM, I wonder if there's sufficient experience, or rigorous studies, to rule it out 100 percent.

Amen, Paul. And the problem is, if anything, even worse with solid corks. I've had a distressing number of grands crus Burgundies, carefully cellared since their release in the 1990s, ruined by TCA.

-Paul W.

I have opened hundreds of bottles closed with Diam without finding one corked bottle due to cork. I would prefer screw caps but given that my producers have to sell most of their wine in Italy it's pretty rare even now.

Non-Diam micro-agglomerated corks, on the other hand, are horrible. If a batch is corked, it's ALL corked.

I lost another grand cru to TCA on Thanksgiving. This time it was Louis Jadot 1995 Chambertin.

-Paul W.

Another TCA casualty. This time it was 1994 Warre vintage Port.

-Paul W.

I don’t recall a TCA tainted DIAM cork.
By far, it’s largely the standard corks.
I, too, bigly prefer screw caps.
Tom

Interesting.... when I typed in “bigly”...auto-correct corrected it to “bigot”!! Hmmm..maybe auto-correct is smarter than we give it credit for!!

I generally agree however I am very glad my case of 1986 Gruaud Larose was closed with regular cork. It was undrinkable on release (way too tannic) but is fabulous now and if under screwcap might resemble the wine on release. None of it has been corked and if so, I'll only be out 20$ per bottle.

[Robin Garr]

Interesting.... when I typed in “bigly”...auto-correct corrected it to “bigot”!! Hmmm..maybe auto-correct is smarter than we give it credit for!!

I generally agree however I am very glad my case of 1986 Gruaud Larose was closed with regular cork. It was undrinkable on release (way too tannic) but is fabulous now and if under screwcap might resemble the wine on release. None of it has been corked and if so, I'll only be out 20$ per bottle.

Since screwcaps appeared as a closure for fine wine, there must by now be considerable (+- 20 years) experience of how age-worthy reds develop under this closure. AFAIK no such European reds have been commercialised under screwcap although it is reported that some Bordeaux GCCs gave been carrying out experiments. On the other hand I believe that some Australian trophy reds have been mostly bottled and sold under screwcap for some time and it would be interesting to know how they have evolved compared with under a high quality traditional cork. If, as Jim suggests, there is little change compared with the wine on release, I would regard that as a negative factor. In my very limited experience, young Grange is not my thing.

[David M. Bueker]

I think Grange is still under cork, but the corks get substantial, over and above, testing.

I have red and white wines in the cellar from back to 2001 (white) and 2004 (red) under screw caps, and they are coming along quite nicely. Austrian and German Riesling are both developing along a predictable, and only slightly slower curve. The reds were not so age worthy, and have developed and matured as I would have expected (again only marginally slower) from prior vintages under cork.

The debate won’t end until everyone’s favorite wines get “tested.” That being said, I am more than satisfied with caps.

Also a huge DIAM fan, as it has allowed me to cellar Fevre Chablis again!