Are wine corks fashionable again? Part II

Tina Caputo, the editor at Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, had an interesting assignment for me: Has the media perception of corks changed over the past several years?

Her point, and it was a good one, was that the Winestream Media was quick to hop on the anti-cork bandwagon, and that its efforts played a key role in detailing the problems that cork had with the industry and with consumers. But now that cork has improved, is the media reporting that?

It's not news that cork wine closures had quality problems. Failure rates were as high as 10 percent, according to some studies. If 1 out of 10 bottles of ketchup were off because the closure failed, there'd be a federal investigation. But it wasn't until the mainstream wine media picked up the failure story that the cork industry started to fix things. Now that the quality of corks has improved -- and even its harshest critics think it has -- has the media covered that?

The answer, which appeared in my story in the May/June issue of VWM? Not really. The story isn't available online, so I covered the highlights Thursday and today. Today, after the jump, why so few people are writing about cork's improvements. Thursday detailed cork's quality problems, and why they seem to be over.

The improvements in cork quality don't seem to have attracted much attention in the wine press. There are several reasons for this, says journalist and author George Taber, who wrote To Cork or Not to Cork, perhaps the definitive account of the cork industry's struggles over the last 20 years.

• An emphasis among wine writers to do softer stories, such as tastings and travel, and less desire to write about harder, more technical subjects like corks. This perception is not necessarily flattering, says Taber, but points to how wine writers see their role in the industry and what they view as the quickest route to popularity.

• Fewer wine writers trained as journalists, who have the knowledge, interest, and resources to pursue harder, more technical stories.

• What Taber calls mob journalism, where everyone writes the same thing because that's what everyone else is writing. "You couldn't find anyone five to 10 years ago who didn't say that cork was dead," he says. “No one would say a kind word about cork.” Given this approach, the cork issue was settled at the beginning of the century, so there is no need to write about it again.

Complicating matters even more, Taber says, is that there was never a middle ground in the cork debate – which made discussion that much more difficult. “It was almost evangelical,” he explains. "Either you were for corks or you were against them, and the other side was made up of devils."

I saw this myself. I'm a screwcap guy, if for no other reason than they're easier to use than a cork. Yet when I have mentioned this over the years, I have been accused of heinous crimes, not the least of which was destroying the romance of wine. Which, of course, is the point, since the romance of wine is one reason why more people don't drink wine.

On other interesting note, from Purdue University cork expert Christian Butzke. He expects to see a new approach to cork journalism: an emphasis on nostalgia. Stories may well be focused on themes like "Remember the good old days, when all wines were closed with cork?" or “Remember when wines weren't closed like a bottle of soda?"

No wonder the Winestream media drives me crazy.

corks, cork taint, corked wine, screwcaps, TCA, George Taber

Comments

[Bobby Cox]

I don't like cork because it places a barrier between my product and potential drinkers. As a winegrowing consultant I NEED many more folks to DRINK wine. I don't need any more barriers. And if it spoils my efforts that adds insult to injury. I just tried an Orvieto that was corked. Most would think that the wine just tasted like moldy cardboard and wouldn't try Orvieto again.

[Dee Vine Wines]

And, let's not forget that German Riesling, with its delicate aromas and light but complex flavors, a small amount of cork taint that would be imperceptible in other varietals renders a Riesling undrinkable.

And because of Riesling's amazing ability to age (thanks to its acidity and, in some cases, sweetness to balance that acidity) - a TCA-infected cork can ruin a well-stored treasure.

For these reasons, we're seeing more German Rieslings under screwcap and glass T-tops. And if the recent W. Spectator article on storage research is to be believed, such closures are more reliable than cork for the aging of these wines.

[Bruce Anderson]

At Sunset Winery we use corks. When we started our business affordable quality corking machines were available, and we found no affordable screwcap equipment. Birgit and I have been "Green" since before Kermit [I built my first compost in 1952]. We like the fact that Corks are a renewable resource. Many are recycled, and if they get into a land fill they will biodgrade much more rapidly than screw caps. Besides, extracting corks is the best exercise some folks get all day!

[Bobby Cox]

Well Bruce we are just going to have to disagree, tonight dear friends of ours were moving and came across a bottle of 1982 PR Cabernet Sauvignon in the forgotten stuff. The cork had leaked, wine had stained the capsule and the fill was down to the bottom of the shoulder. Some of the crumbled cork was extracted and the rest tumbled into the bottle. The wine was wonderious even with the obligatory take out pizza and drunk from plastic cups. The wine has been better with high fills and whole cork but it was great tonight. After it was gone we opened a Spanish Tempranillo to finish the night, IT WAS CORKED ! Overall it was a bad night for bark.

[Jeff Siegel]

Look what happens when I'm on the road and can't keep up with the comments -- we actually have a comment stream. Which is not all that common here, given I don't write about politics or sports. Maybe I should pay less attention in the future.

I think the consensus is that cork isn't going away, even though many people thought it was going to. Personally, I prefer screwcaps, since it makes wine accessible to more people. Which is one of my reasons for being.

In the end, it's about which closure does a better job. As long as cork continues to improve, it will continue to be used.