Wow a lot of shared experiences with cork usage!
It sounds like technically screw caps are becoming more important for whites
(not sure about reds). But since they are not easily available to homewine
makers, we need to make sure we get quality (natural or agglomerated or 1+1
or synthetic) corks and a good corker. I have an Italian floor corker and
it seems to work well.
Making sure you get quality corks does not seem like a simple task. Other
than visually checking for imperfections and softness I guess all you can do
is try them out and wait. I have never expierenced TCA, oops now that I
have mentioned it I better check it out.

thanks for all the suggestions

Joe



"Mark Willstatter" > wrote in message
om...
> "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.