Robin Garr wrote:David M. Bueker wrote:History is also littered with businesses that did not react to changing market conditions quickly enough.
Staying on topic, though, and not (really) trying to stir the pot, discuss the synthetic cork, which prompted quite a few producers to make a bold and speedy switch, but then discover they had made a costly move when they proved less than ideal for longer-lived wines.
Discuss? Okay.
As David points out, the market recovered rapidly to correct what was proven to be a problematic and flawed premise. But part of that 'rush to change' was created by the admittedly egregious sad state of the cork industry and their apparent unwillingness (at that time) to change. It was a step of desperation, by a community that could no longer support the failure rate that cork caused.
And from the very beginning it was fairly clear that the 'synthetic cork' closure was viewed as, and intended to be, nothing but a short-to-medium-term apparatus, and not intended or appropriate for long-term aging. Even at that, apparently, it was a flawed system and apparently works only for very, very short-=term closure (although, considering the breathlessly fast producer-to-consumer rate of the vast majority of wines out there, I expect we will see many sythetic closures for quite some time now).
Still, there was a rush to any alternative that seemed workable at the time, and there was a lashback to that rush. That pretty much says the market handled it as it is supposed to, and the synthetic cork became a Neanderthal instead of a Cro-Magnon.
From the beginning, however, the scewcap showed much more promise as an all-around superior alternative to a much wider range of wine styles---not just the drink-it-quick camp. There are any number of published trials, and significanlty more unofficial and unpublished trials, of the screwcap....and those hardly ever take into account the long history of other-than-cork closures that the non-wine industry has imposed and perfected for many, many years prior to the wine industry considering it for more than simple jug wines.
More trials will emerge; on that I have no doubt. I expect not all of them will be positive, as I think any form of closure has pros and cons. I do believe, however, that the screwcap shows itself to be...and will continue to show itself to be...superior to cork, and currently is superior to any other form of closure.
That other people are not convinced does not surprise me. That some people will never be convinced does not surprise me. That cork will remain viable as a closure neither surprises me nor does it dismay me. I have no need to dominate the closure controversy, and I certainly have no need to require other people to drink from closures they do not care for; likewise, I don't wish those other people to prevent me from drinking from my preferred closures. So I am quite happy with the progress the industry has made, and I expect will continue to make, as we both have choices. Choices we did not have before.
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