Completely Biased

Leah and I have spent many an evening with a bottle or two or wine. We have commented before on the bottle having traditional or synthetic corkage and as I remember, attributing a value to the different kinds. As though the very existence of a traditional cork makes the wine more refined or better. I believe this is something many people do. We like to write off the quality or value of a wine on the packaging (e.g. cork). However there is something that the type of cork can do to a wine to effect its flavor and quality.

In one of our recent episodes Leah commented directly on the cork imparting a damp flavor to the wine. I noted it and filed it away for later. Today I took to Google to see what the all seeing oracle had to say on the subject. It turns out that anywhere from 1-15% of wine produced can become tainted by the cork and only in cases where traditional wine corks are used. The cause of the contamination is fungus from the cork seeping into the wine. It’s something that is tough to track too. So vineyards and bottling companies use what they have because they don’t want to be viewed as inferior by using a product consumer’s view with a negative light. Imagine buying a good aging wine, stowing it away for a few years and returning to find a distasteful mess when corked and tasted. However by using a synthetic cork (or closure as they are called) you can get around all that mess, better yet they fit standard bottles and you can avoid the very low class “Screw-tops”

In short, don’t pass judgment on a modest bottle of wine with a synthetic cork. If it’s keeping the air out and not putting the fungus in you should be happy! Let the wine do the talking!

For more details check out this article on MSNBC Food.

(Image courtesy of Northern Brewer the online home brew supply store.)