Turning the screw on cork popping

Jul 3 2008 By Laurence Mccoy

WHAT is it about pulling a cork out of a bottle?

It somehow seems so right.

After centuries of a marriage made in heaven, however, corks are under increasing pressure to make the relationship work.

It's all about what happens when t hat prized bottle that's been lying under the stairs for years is dusted off, the cork is carefully pulled and the bottle is brought up to the nose to get a whiff of the long awaited nectar - and it turns out to have a musty, mushroomy smell like a mouldy old dishcloth.

It's a surprisingly common anticlimax. Something up to five per cent of bottles are "corked" - badly affected by a chemical reaction related to the cork itself. Significantly more bottles are also in less than perfect condition because the cork has failed to keep out the air effectively, causing oxidation.

The wine trade accepts that it's an issue because most suppliers are very happy to replace any bottle that is not up to scratch, and restaurants should always take back a corked bottle - you just have to have the courage to make a fuss! It's a tricky balancing act, because corks have always been supposed to allow the wine to breathe infinitesimal amounts of air in order to age and develop over years. But it's no surprise that winemakers who have struggled to produce the best wine they can get a bit miffed when it is spoiled by duff corks.

That's the reason there are so many plastic versions around nowadays, as well as screw-caps. And far from suggesting that these are associated with an inferior wine, it is a sign that whatever the quality of the wine at least it will not be corked.

The latest blow to the marriage of cork and bottle has come with Decanter magazine's conclusions that the screw-cap is the best way forward, after leading wine commentators backed it as the best way to deliver wine to the consumer in the way it left the winery - and that goes for reds as much as whites. But Decanter holds back from suggesting that wines meant to age for years are still not best served by cork. Until Chateau Latour is sealed with a screw-cap it seems tradition will still hold sway.