Alternative wine closure
alternative methods for wine closure
Alternative wine closures are substitute closures used in the wine industry for sealing wine bottles in place of traditional cork closures. The emergence of these alternatives has grown in response to quality control efforts by winemakers to protect against "cork taint" caused by the presence of the chemical trichloroanisole (TCA).
The closures debate, chiefly between supporters of screw caps and natural corks, has increased the awareness of post-bottling wine chemistry, and the concept of winemaking has grown to continue after the bottling process, because closures with different oxygen transmission rates may lead to wines that taste different when they reach consumers.
The cork-industry group APCOR cites a study showing a 0.7–1.2% taint rate. In a 2005 study of 2800 bottles tasted at the Wine Spectator blind-tasting facilities in Napa, California, 7% of the bottles were found to be tainted.
Synthetic corks
Synthetic corks are made from plastic compounds designed to look and "pop" like natural cork, but without the risk of TCA contamination. Disadvantages of synthetic corks include a risk of harmful air entering a bottle after as little as 18 months, difficulty in extracting them from the bottle, and difficulty in using the cork to reseal the wine. James Laube of Wine Spectator notes that some can also impart a slight chemical flavour to the wine.
Unlike natural corks, many synthetic corks are made from material that is not biodegradable. There are two main production techniques for synthetic wine closures: injection molding and extrusion.
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