Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 15
O
CORK TAINT
by JAMIE GOODE
A FRESHLY HARVESTED CORK-OAK TREE SURROUNDED BY SHEETS OF BARK.
NE OF THE FRUSTRATIONS for
wine lovers is the risk that when
a bottle is opened, it's faulty. And
cork taint is the most commonly
encountered fault in wine. In some proportion
of bottles sealed with a natural cork, the wine
will develop musty off-aromas that may strip
it of flavor or make it undrinkable. It's largely
because of cork taint that we have the restaurant ritual of tasting a small sip of the wine
we've ordered before it is poured.
How big is the problem? Current estimates
range from one to five percent of cork-sealed
bottles.
Although cork taint is as old as the use of
cork as a closure, it became a topic of intense
debate in the late 1990s. The global expansion of the market for wine put pressure on
cork suppliers, most of whom are in Portugal.
Increased demand exposed cracks in the system, and taint rates climbed significantly. Producers in New World regions came to believe
they were receiving inferior corks; in Australia, anecdotal evidence suggests that taint rates
were in excess of ten percent. And there was
inconsistency in the closures, with some bottles aging much faster than others.
The search for alternative closures stepped
up, and the Australians turned to the screwcap.
In South Australia's Clare Valley, a group of 14
riesling producers banded together in the 2000
vintage, bottling under screwcap. Their success soon led others to adapt, and screwcaps
became the main closure in both Australia and
New Zealand. Meanwhile, as synthetic corks
slowly improved, they began to gain traction
elsewhere. Facing the threat of losing much of
their business, the cork industry responded by
implementing preventive measures, including
new cork storage and washing protocols.
It's likely these improved production methods contributed to a reduction in taint, but it
wasn't enough. For natural cork to sustain a
large market share in the face of taint-free alternatives, more action was required. The challenge has been to remove taint compounds-
the chief one being the potent, musty-smelling
2,4,6-tricholoroanisole (TCA)-without altering the cork's desirable properties.
The first technology for eliminating cork
taint was introduced in 2004 by Amorim, the
world's largest cork producer-responsible for
some 40 percent of the premium natural cork
market. Dubbed ROSA (for 'rate of optimal
steam application'), it aimed to remove TCA
by applying a steam treatment. Initially it was
only suitable for cork granules that were used
to make technical corks.
Technical corks-made up of small pieces of
cork that are then glued together with a foodgrade binder-account for 45 percent of the
cork market. They are a cost-effective solution,
WINE & SPIRITS
APRIL 2021
15
Wine & Spirits - April 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2021
Contents
Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 1
Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 2
Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - Contents
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