cork taint

USA Wineries Increasing Use of Cork Closures

Filed under: Wine

Despite a move in recent years to replace cork closures for wine with alternatives such as synthetic cork or screw-caps, a study by AC Nielsen on behalf of the Cork Quality Council indicates that the premium domestic US wineries are increasing their use of cork closures, with brands using cork showing higher annual sales growth over those using alternatives.

According to the data released recently by the CQC, out of 100 top selling wine brands, the number of brands using cork closures rose to 72 during the past five months, registering an increase of 7.5%. These brands using cork as the closure also posted an average annual sales bump of 10.2 %, compared to annual growth of 3.7 % for alternative closures majority of which are screw-caps.

Cork comes from a certain variety of oak tree that is only found in the Mediterranean, especially Portugal.

Tags: AC Nielsen, cork, cork taint, corks, french wines, Makers Mark, premium wines

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Airocide, Another Way Of Fighting Cork Taint

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

The latest weapon in the battle against the dreaded cork taint is something called Airocide. Airocide is a process designed by NASA scientists in the 1990s to remove airborne contaminants and keep fruit and vegetables fresh on a space station. It turns out that it can also eliminate TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole), the chemical that causes cork taint in wine. Decanter explains the process which involves sucking air through a box containing a 'bed' of titanium dioxide catalyst which is irradiated by UV bulbs, oxidizing any organic contaminants. UK wine laboratory Corkwise performed the trials on behalf of Airocide. It could be used in wineries and warehouses and is already used in food storage.

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Tags: cork taint, CorkTaint, nasa, wine

Memstar, Better Wine Through Technology

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Can it be all the way since January that we've had a cork taint story? The latest device to fine-tune wine comes from Australia. A company called Memstar has created a device which uses reverse osmosis to tinker with wine. Memstar says their device can adjust the alcohol content, increase the concentration and remove wine taint. The system involves separating low molecular weight components such as water, acetic acid and alcohol which are then heated and passed over a membrane that extracts some of the alcohol. Nothing is added to the wine during these processes. Is better taste the solution to Australia's wine glut problems? It seems to me that these methods used to create a "better" wine are creating a more homogenous flavor profile and some of the quirks of the more natural methods of wine production are lost. Or maybe that machine just scares me.

[via Decanter]

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Tags: cork taint, memstar, wine

Innocork, the Latest Cork Taint Removal Technique

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

It's been a while since we've had a cork taint story. The latest company to save the wine world from going screwtop is the Cork Supply Group which has created the INNOCORK process to remove TCA from natural wine corks. The INNOCORK process also gets rid of other off-aromas. The process involves cleaning corks in a steam distillation of ethyl alcohol that removes the TCA. The Cork Supply Group in Portugal has been testing the process for three years.

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Tags: cork taint, corkage, portugal, red wine, screwtop, tca, wine