Notes From The Winemaker

Selecting Corks For The Pinot Bottling

Spent time the over the last week doing sensory trials on different cork lots to use for bottling the 2003 Pinots. Why?

First, because I am committed to using only real bark corks for my wines -- no synthetic substitutes and no glued-together cork bits and sawdust. Synthetic stoppers are not suitable for closing bottles that may be laid down for long aging -- they are imperfect closures at best. In the same vein, screwcaps are not ideal either. Although they can provide a better long-term seal than the synthetic stoppers, they contribute nothing to the wine as it ages.

At the other end of the spectrum, unwanted contributions to the wine are the biggest negative of the glued-together cork closures -- contributions from the low-quality cork material they are built up from, as well as extractables from the binders, fillers and glues used to assemble them.

With a nod to James Beard Award-winning wine writer Jennifer Rosen's well-expressed contrary opinions on the subject -- in my experience, only a real cork cut whole from good bark provides an adequate long-term seal for the bottle, and also contributes positive and beneficial extractables to the wine as it ages.

Second, because there is a down side to using real bark corks as many a regular wine drinker knows all to well: cork taint. Taint occurs in a small fraction of natural corks as a consequence of exposure to fungus and chlorine during manufacture, and its presence in a cork completely spoils the aroma and flavor of the wine.

I refuse to work with cork suppliers that have developed some "magic process" they claim decreases the incidence of taint - these processes may or may not work, but they allow and encourage these suppliers to lower their standards for raw material. Taint can and should be minimized (perhaps eliminated) by sourcing better raw bark and by eliminating chlorine from all steps in cork processing. That said, even working with high-quality suppliers it is in my best interest -- and yours -- for me to do a sensory evaluation first to assure that there is no obvious taint in the cork lots I select.

And third, because different lots of good, untainted cork have different sensory characteristics. I am not looking for a "neutral" stopper. I am looking for a cork whose sensory contribution to the wine will be a good one. I want the best-smelling, best-tasting cork I can find to go into the Westwood bottles.

Prices are a bit shocking - they have gone up by 30% in the last couple of years. My hope that more wineries moving to synthetics and screw caps would help prices stabilize was a vain one. And the quality one gets for the money varies pretty dramatically between suppliers. I have been working with the same supplier for 15 years, and they still give me the best bang for the buck.

posted 3/19/2006 01:10:00 PM