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J Dixon
 
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Default Agglomerated Corks

Ray,
Do you have any idea what company guarantees their corks to be taint
free? I was not aware of any companies making such a claim, and might be
interested in further information. The biggest question if this is true is
how is this achieved? Is it through just testing the corks, or are they
treated in some way as has occurred in the industry causing other problems.
Thanks for any info you might have.
John Dixon
"Ray" > wrote in message
m...
> 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
> >
> >

>
>