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Ray
 
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Default Agglomerated Corks

Until recently I insisted on the traditional, natural corks. I felt it not
only added to the esthetics but since cork is a type of oak it probably adds
something to the wine.

For the first 20 plus years of my winemaking I had no trouble. But in
recent years I have had trouble with what I am attributing to cork taint in
any of my wines that get over 2 or 3 years in bottle.

They now have a test for cork taint and the big wineries can by corks
guaranteed to be taint free. Unfortunately these are not offered for
general consumption and no one admits what is done with the corks that fail.
I suspect they may reenter the market to people who do not buy tested cork.
For instance home winemakers.

I thought of the agglomerated but they still have cork and may be tainted.
Screw caps are not a good option for home winemaking.

This last year I have been using synthetic. One year is not much of a test
in terms of protecting from taint but I have not had any trouble inserting
or removing the ones I have used. My one complaint is that if I remove one,
drink part of the wine and then try to reinsert it by hand -- No Way! They
expand back to their original size which requires a good corker. My
solution is to replace with tasting corks for this but this, of course, adds
to cost.

Ray

"Joe Ae" > wrote in message
news
> I am curious what the folks on this forum think. I have looked at some
> recent postings regarding corks. Most discussions I saw were focused on
> synthetic versus cork.
>
> I have asked a couple of wine supply stores whether natural cork or
> agglomerated cork are the better and sure enough I got a different answer.
> The cost are very similar at these stores.
> One vendor claimed the agglomerated corks are only for short term storage.
> The natural corks can hold together for much longer storage. The longer
> natural corks are the best for long term storage.
> The other vendor told me natural corks can have defects due to the
> manufacturing process he prefers agglomerated.
>
> Joe
>
>