To cork or not to cork

February 28, 2008
As you are uncorking your "favorite" bottle of wine, did you ever think about the "wine stopper" that was used to preserve the freshness of the wine you are going to enjoy? You didn't need to because the cork had always been there to assure the freshness and taste of the wine!

However, what you should know is that the corking process of bottling wine, whether by machine or by hand, is the "last and the most important" part of this process before shelving the bottles for storage and for sale.

The cork has been used down through the years to seal wine. The wine was bottle and sealed then laid on its side in a cool dark place – referred to as a wine cellar. Once a month each bottle was turned a quarter turn (called racking) to keep the cork moist so it would not dry out thus keeping oxygen from seeping in. This process continues today in many wineries throughout the world!

As indicated above, for centuries wineries have used wooden corks as wine stoppers. But as we well know nothing is forever! Wineries are already changing and have been changing their wine stoppers for the past ten years. Due to the worldwide production and consumption of wine, wineries have been forced to look beyond using wooden corks – using screw caps and plastic corks instead!

According to Jocken Michalski, president of Cork Supply USA, the nations largest supplier of premium natural cork wine stoppers, reported in his newsletter winter 2008, that the 2007 cork harvest was "16 percent less than in 2006." "This reduction in supply combined with increasing winery demand for top-tier wine stoppers is also driving up prices as well as winery owners choosing other wine stoppers," states Michalski.

Most of the cork trees are grown in Portugal and Spain. The trees are stripped of their bark every 9 to 10 years when the bark has grown think enough to provide "viable commercial use." However with the increased demand for more and more corks, the foresters began to strip the trees earlier and earlier before the bark had begun to mature. Therefore wineries were getting inferior wine corks, which caused to wine to "go bad." The wineries were also getting complaints from their customers that the corks were crumbling and there were hits and pieces of "wood" in their wine bottles. If wine bottles are not sealed properly oxygen seeps in and turns the wine to vinegar!

So without a ready supply of "time honored" corks, vintners must now switch to either artificial corks made of plastic or screw caps to protect their products. Some wineries have already switched to screw caps as an ecological way to seal their wine bottles thus ensuring the freshness and taste of a "good" wine. Many wineries have also switched to artificial corks thereby making sure their wine product is protected.

Screw caps have always been used to seal fortified wine bottles. Now will screw caps be used to seal unfortified wine bottles? This remains to be seen!

Buddy Harrell, Bennett Vineyards