There’s something to be said for a comparisson of cork in wine to vinyl for music. Those who value vinyl point towards it as a superior despite decades of innovation and technical progress, and the same could be said of cork. However, is this necessarily true? Is there really all that much to gain from the synthetic alternatives that have become more prominent in the last decade? And what about those claims of better tasting wine from natural cork? Are they really just enthusiast drivel?
It’s is undeniable that natural cork is losing its once all-encompassing influence. Only ten years ago, natural cork had cornered 95% of the bottle market: now only 68% of bottles are sealed in this traditional way. Despite this seeds of change being sown, screw top bottles are still very much in the minority outside of the non-traditional markets. For example, in New Zealand, 90% of wine is sealed with a screw-cap. By contrast, your European grown Malbec will come sealed with more traditional cork materials. Because they want to protect their natural cork plantations, synthetic caps are in fact illegal and screw tops are a rare sight. Huge wine producer Sogrape are bucking the trend with their Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde 2010, which will feature a screwtop bottle.
But why was there ever a move away from natural cork? Trichlorosanisol (TCA) is the name of a compound that is created in Cork taint, which was the source of much concern. This compound was responsible for inferior matured wines, as were problems in cork manufacture. Generally speaking, you would be pretty incensed if this happened to your classy case of merlot
However, for several important environmental reasons, natural cork is still favoured by many. Rather than harvesting entire trees, cork is actually the outer layer of bark. Cork is biodegradable.
The present situation is therefore that natural cork still stands top of the podium. By comparison, people are still wary of overusing plastics and aluminium: and they still don’t trust screw tops for wine preservation. With cork taint now under tighter control, people can get back to consuming white wine as wine has been consumed for centuries. But what then of the matter of wine taste? The difficulty of proving things either way is prohibitive. But, for the time being, the more you spend on wine, the more likely it is bottled with cork. Coincidentally, it will taste better.
