"Joe Ae" > wrote in message
.. .
> I have bought some Italian wines (MASI) with synthetic corks but I haven't
> seen them for sale. Also the commercial wines have nice long smooth corks
> again I haven't found any like that at the winemaking shops.
> Are home winemakers destined to sort through corks that have been rejected
> by the wineries?

Not really, but it may seem that way. Actually, your money spends just as
well as the Big Boys', and a well stocked homebrew shop will carry a range
of corks from the el-cheapos you got to the so called "extra firsts".

It may be of some comfort to you that cork taint is a much more serious
problem for commercial wineries than it is for you. If you open a bottle of
your wine and find it tainted you dump it down the sink and reach for
another bottle. A customer who purchases a tainted bottle from a wine shop
will reach for another _brand_ next time.

There are super-premium natural corks on the market for as much as 50¢
apiece (US), but even spending that much is no guarantee of freedom from
cork taint problems. That's why many wineries are switching to synthetics
and screwcaps - even for their top of the line wines. It makes sense,
really. How likely is it that a chunk of tree bark jammed into its neck
represents the _optimum_ closure for a bottle?

Tom S