Salut/Hi Mike Tommasi,
le/on Thu, 16 Sep 2004 18:02:17 +0200, tu disais/you said:-
Excellent article Ian
Thanks Mike.
World production is led by Portugal, followed by Spain. Together they
cover over 3/4 of world production. Italy, France are both minor
producers. Slovenia is not even on the map.
That's interesting, as I seem to remember reading in abrège.com that it was
a significant player. But it's a while since I translated it, and so my
memory may be playing me false.
Small cork stopper producers can turn out consistently good product,
but these are definitely the exception.
I didn't know that. Interesting.
Dupere and Barrera use a small producer here in the Var, France. Out
of over 100 of their bottles sampled, I have never had a corked
bottle. They report that nobody has ever found a corked bottle, and
they are quite close to their customers.
They certainly are, and from what I know of them, they wouldn't tell
porkies, either.
I believe that most producers of cork have moved away from chlorine,
and are now using peroxide. This seems to have reduced the problem,
but not much...
Interesting. So that would imply that my fundamental hypothesis about the
source of the chlorine in TCA (TriChloroAnisole iirc) is not correct. So
where does the chlorine come from then?
TCA has increased as production of cork becomes more volume oriented
and less quality oriented.
More or less as I said.
permanent). At the time, cork was grown naturally and production
respected the very long growth cycle of the cork oak. The first bark
was removed after 15 years and DISCARDED, then it took another 15
years to get the first usable bark. Without irrigation, the trees
produced tight bands of bark each year, and it took 12-15 years to
produce the required thickness. Nowadays, trees are irrigated (think
of the environmental consequences, irrigating in areas that are
normally arid) and one can produce a usable bark in 8 years or less,
but the product does not have the longevity and the suppleness of a
real cork. You can actually see the bands on the cork itself, count
them: if you see 6-7 bands, it's no good, better corks have 10-12
visible bands.
Thanks very much for that explanation, which was a very useful expansion.
Spain, in Sardinia. THIS is the most likely place to pick up all kinds
of nasty things. Mold sets in very quickly, the bark is literally
covered in green nasty stuff. In proper conditions, no mold forms and
cleaning can be done with less agressive products. Rain might be
adding some new reagents (acids?) to the moldy bark.
I can certainly understand all that, though I'm still uneasy about where the
chlorine comes from.
Slight OT, Ian, I have a mission to ship some Chateau Burbank to you,
expect liquid surprise in the mail.
Not altogether a surprise, but it will be a VERY pleasant parcel to receive.
YIPPEE.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website