loobyloo > wrote:

>> Besides the problem of corked wines, this failure of the cork
>> structure with extended contact with wine is the reason I hope
>> screw caps soon become universal.

> I find the trend towards screw tops on wine quite depressing.

I don't, quite on the contrary.

> It's going to decimate one of the main industries in the
> Alentejo and other areas where there are few alternative sources
> of employment.

OK then - how about the wax and cloth industry 200 years ago, when
the first moves to cork arised? Things *are* changing, and life
today is not like it has been 30, 50 or 150 years ago.

> Cork is an infinitely renewable resource, is biodegradeable, and
> will not sit around in rubbish dumps for hundreds of years like
> Teflon.

First, there is no teflon involved in scerwcaps. Second, the
failure rate is alarming. No other industry worldwide could get
along with such rates. The latest survey found its way to the
newspapers three days ago:

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...5/01/27/WIGP7B
0EOG1.DTL>

or

<http://snipurl.com/ceib>

It shows an 8 percent failure rate on some 2000 wines tasted.

> I'm very skeptical about tastings which report failure rates of
> up to 30%.

The next time i'll invite you. That was the taint rate in our
Bordeaux 1995 tasting (101 wines) two weeks ago.

> I suspect any fault in the wine is nowadays ascribed to the
> cork.

If the back-up bottle is flawless, then I wait for your theory who
the culprit might be. Or if both bottles are equally so-so (i.e.
rated between 80 and 84 at best), while the wine in question,
Grand-Puy-Lacoste, happens to be a Parker 95 point wine - how do
you solve this question? And no - no heat or other damage
possible, the bottles coming airmail directly from the chateau.

> Even so, I think a few corked bottles of wine every now and
> again is a price we should be prepared to pay.

No. I am not prepared to pay this price. Some weeks ago I had
dinner at my house, and the magnum of Gruaud-Larose 1961 - a
wedding gift back in 1992 from a guy then working for Cordier's
importers to Austria - was opend in presence of the donor to be
the star of the evening. TCA, once again.

No, I am definitely fed up!

> I don't think it's fair for us wine drinkers to insist on a zero
> failure rate for corks, if a consequence of this is to destroy
> the livelihoods of people who have been involved in the industry
> for generations.

What happened to those working in the petroleum lamp business? Or
those constructing steam locomotives? Sorry, but I can't follow
you upon this path of reasonment.

> There are ways of improving the performance of cork, for e.g.,
> by washing in hydrogen peroxide,

I've heard *so* many solutions to the problems of TCA taint for
almost 30 years - and *none* has proven successfull. You don't
mind if I remain extremely sceptical.

> but a large part of the problem is that the price for lower
> grades of cork has come down over the past 20 years or so, and
> so a great many of the problems that are emerging now arise as a
> result of bottlers using inferior cork in order to save money.

Which, of course, happens to be true for Bordeaux crus classés,
too? Go figure.

M.