"J Dixon" > wrote in message et>...
> 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

John - I don't mean to speak for Ray here but I can tell you, if a
cork is made from natural material, whether regular solid cork or
agglomerate, there are no guarantees and there is no company that will
offer such a guarantee. There have been many attempts over the years
to address the problem trying everything from gases to radiation of
various sorts but none has ever succeeded in completely eliminating
the problem and I doubt anyone ever will, frankly. The problem I see
with going to synthetic stoppers is that many of them seem to allow
premature oxidation. Supremecorq, the market leader, for example has
essentially recognized this by introducing a new sulfite-impregnated
model that is intended to release sulfite into the wine to replace
that being eaten up through oxidation. So I fear in going from
natural to synthetic cork we're going from a situation where between
2% and 10% (depending on whom you believer) are corked to where 100%
are going to be prematurely oxidized. That doesn't matter, of course,
if you drink the wine quickly.

- Mark W.