| By :
Mark Etinger
Cork has been the traditional seal of choice for vintners and kosher wine bottlers over 400 years of wine-making. Recently though, some vintners have made the switch from cork to screw top. Cork forms irregularly just as all natural materials do, and thus can produce irregular quality in the wine it bottles. Corks also require special equipment (a corkscrew) and can dry out and break apart into the bottle leaving bits in the wine. But the primary reason for the shift is that cork is that it leaves a bad taste in peoples’ mouths—literally. The chemical 2, 4, 6 trichloroanisole (also known as TCA) is a compound that forms when chlorine reacts with mold already present in the cork and forms what's called "cork taint," detectable to human taste buds even at six parts per trillion. Cork taint leaves wine with a dull and musty taste and may affect anywhere from 10 - 20% of all bottles sold. Harvesting the cork itself is an environmentally friendly process that does not permanently damage the tree, but with disease and rapidly disappearing cork forests, new cork trees have not been replanted fast enough to replenish supply that meets demand. As a result, quality cork wood is difficult to find. With fewer cork trees available, wine bottlers are forced to turn to less desirable sources of cork, which may have been stored in ways that are not suitable for wine. Another alternative is synthetic cork made from plastic-based substitutes. However, some critics say that this leaves an even greater tainted taste in the wine, this time more like plastic than mold. New Zealand, one of largest the wine-producing countries in the world, has led the way with an alternative to the alternative: the screw cap. The caps resemble the same ones used for sodas and other carbonated beverages complete with break-away safety ring to ensure freshness and security. The pioneering caps were originally developed in the 1970s for discount wines, which may be part of why a stigma still surrounds the use of screw tops. Many view the screw caps as industrial, aesthetically unpleasing, and cheap. Screw caps also have none of the flair and romance of corks, which use Old World technology and add some ceremony to wine enjoyment. Some conservative French wineries refuse to use screw caps outright, both as a matter of aesthetic but also because many of the wines that mature in French cellars require very slow oxygenation. Spain has gone further and passed a law requiring wineries in the country's top eleven wine producing regions to seal with cork instead of screw cap, outlawing screw caps and other synthetic closures outright. The good news is that screw tops don't seem to impact the delicious flavor of such kosher wines as Herzog wine, Bartenura moscato, or other moscato wines. In fact, some say that the mechanically-tightened cap does a better job of preventing air from reacting with the wine and that the flavor is even enhanced by screw caps. So drink up and l'chaim, whether from cork or cap!
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