Put a Cork in It — Or Not!

Your waiter has gracefully opened the bottle of wine and gently places the cork in front of you. What should you do? Actually nothing – you may smell the cork to see if it is good (the cork that is), yet it will not tell you if your wine is flawed. That comes when you smell the wine itself. The ceremony of presenting the cork evolved as the wine industry fought forgery. The one way to be certain that the wine in the bottle was what was represented on the label was through the cork. Wineries embed their name on the cork, and this should authenticate the wine.

Cork has been used as a closure for wine for hundreds of years. It is an age-old tradition – the popping of a cork is part of the process of enjoyment. Natural cork comes from the bark of the cork tree. Most top quality corks used today come from trees grown in Portugal.

A cork tree is harvested – stripped of its bark (that’s the source of the cork) – after 25 years of growth. Then the bark is harvested only once every nine years. A tree’s life span is 150-200 years of age. In that time, on average, a tree will yield its bark 16 times.

Why use cork? It is almost impervious to air. Corks are measured by the amount of air that is allowed in over time – called OTR – oxygen transfer rate. They are almost impenetrable to water, resistant to fire and can withstand temperature changes and vibration.

So if corks are so great, why are there different types of closures? One of the challenges that exists is the development of TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole for my science friends) in cork that can spoil your wine. This will give your wine the smell of wet cardboard. It is then termed “corked” and is undrinkable. Every effort is made to clean the bark so as to prevent TCA, yet it still happens. At least, even today, 1-2% of bottles will be corked.

This opens the door for screw cap closures, with Stelvin being the most common brand. These types of closures are favored especially for white wines, which are intended to be drunk young. There is less oxygen transfer and, obviously, no TCA. There are many wines now coming from Australia with these caps, and they offer freshness even in rich reds. I have also bought Pinot Noir from Oregon with these types of closures. The point being that they are being used more today, and one should not think poorly of the bottle simply because it has a screw cap. Most importantly – one should just enjoy what is inside.

Enjoy!