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+--- Thread: Screw closures and TCA prevention. (/thread-20670.html)
- jock - 06-12-2002
I am truly appalled by the amount of cork damage both from TCA and also from simple deterioration over time in the cellar.
What steams me is that it is largely preventable with screw closures. The surprising part is that I constantly hear from people in the wine business (producers and importers) that the reason they have not moved faster is that "the wine consuming public won't accept it." Don't they even talk with their customers? I have made it a point to discuss this with as many collectors and other consumers as possible over the past few months and I have heard virtually zero opposition to screw tops and most strongly favor them. In fact, the more knowledgeable and the longer they have been into wine the more strongly they favor the use of screw caps.
I happen to be one of those who are cursed, or blessed as the case may be, with an extreme sensitivity to TCA and am constantly amazed at how many people at all levels in the trade are unable to detect TCA, even at moderately high levels. For many the wine has to literally reek.
I recently attended a trade tasting with a very large importer and mentioned my support for screw caps to him prior to the tasting. He proceeded to tell me that "the public wouldn't accept them" and that everything would be ok if they would just use plastic corks on "lesser" wines so that the "high quality" cork would be available for fine wines. We then proceeded to taste and one of the wines was very mildly tainted with TCA. When I told him, he tried the wine and pronounced it sound. The rest of the wines were not tainted, however, the distributor later told me that they had seven more corked bottles during the afternoon. My suspicion is that the number was, in reality, even greater.
My observation is that the people in the trade are using the excuse that the public won't accept it when in reality the public is more than ready and they are the problem. I applaud those who have already made the change and encourage everyone who loves wine to take-up the cause.
- Bucko - 06-12-2002
You are preaching to the choir. Screw tops and plastic closures do not bother me in the least, and I too encourage their use.
AFA TCA sensitivity, the human threshold can vary as much as a thousand fold. Some people can taste TCA in parts per million where others can literally taste in parts per billion. So some people just cannot taste mildly corked wines.
- Auburnwine - 06-20-2002
Pleasant guests and the prospects of a lovely wine for a summer day (a Brancott Sauvignon Blanc) ... and then bleah! Corked!
Hail to Bonnie Doon for making the leap.
- Bucko - 06-20-2002
Too bad, it ls a nice wine.