Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Quick Cork Question...



This month I've been dealing with the cork companies.  Mostly getting samples, discussing price, and most importantly, asking what they are doing to reduce cork taint.  

They all have their methods and technologies and they all claim to be the company that done the most to eliminate TCA.  I've seen the numbers, and the graphs, and the presentations.

What I really want to know is :  What is the incidence of corked bottles in the market today?  


Gary Vaynerchu(c)k says its 1 in 2500.  I strongly disagree. Please leave a comment on your corked wine experience.  I figure 1 in 60 for me.

( I know, I know...let's leave the screwcaps out of the equation) 

 

7 comments:

MW said...

We've had our 1... but I don't know out of how many. Somewhere between 60 and 2500 I suppose.

Unknown said...

Even 1 out of 60 seems a bit low to me. I would speculate around 1 out of 30 to 40. That may be because older bottles tend to have less fruit forward characters that can sometimes cover up the less obvious taints.

WineTraveler said...

I've been running at about 1 out of 50, which I have been relatively happy about. Though if I hit a corked wine and open another of the same, chances are more like 1 in 5 that that one will be corked as well...

Ted Henry said...

Traveler- excellent point. I once opened 7 badly corked wines in a row. Kinda like hitting the lottery, but in a bad way.

Mic said...

Corked wine is terrifying, but synthetically corked wine (especially red) is frequently ruined as a result of its closure as well. Unpopular statement, I know.

Lorenzo said...

IMHO It is not the cork by itself but a bad conservation what commonly ruins the wine.

Ted Henry said...

Mic- I agree that there have been some terrible synthetic corks produced over the years. There is ongoing research to improve the synthetic cork, I can only assume they can only get better. (we'll see)