Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most anticipated event of the year ! To referee this anthology match, we called on the judge Beaux-vins, wine blogger. In the red corner, the reigning champion since the end of the 17th century : Cork ! To face him, the Swiss more and more present in the ring for years 70, I present to you Capsule à vis !
The cork stopper is THE super star of corks : He holds 60 % of the market. But could he be dethroned by the screw capsule which seems to be winning more and more fights ?
The cork stopper : a heavyweight with a split personality
It's true that the cork has its appeal. What would a tasting be without a corkscrew and this little "Poc" so sweet to our ears when we uncork the bottle? ? But the nice side doesn't end there ; his greatest strength is his unbeatable ability (for the time being) to promote the gas exchanges necessary for the aging of the wine in the best conditions and this during 25 years, then it is necessary to have your wine recapped by the producer. In addition, it is biodegradable and can be easily upgraded by the consumer : DIY caps.
However, the cork stopper has a much less wise second personality. He is responsible in 95 % cases of corky taste (link to the aroma of the day on the Beaux-Vins Facebook page). The TCA molecule develops under the action of chlorine on cork. According to a study by the’French Institute of Vine and Wine, 5 to 8 % of bottles sold on the French market are corked. This can range from a simple deterioration of the qualities of the wine to giving a very bad musty taste. Although the Poc of the cap is a sweet moment of ecstasy, it's also a little anxiety attack where fear can assail us. Everyone has known at least once this bitter moment when the cork breaks or fragments ... Cork is also responsible for the phenomenon of couleuse during the aging period of your wine. (when small tears of wine pass through the cork because it is no longer waterproof).
The screw cap : a featherweight ready to do battle
The screw cap will never be responsible for the cork taste since there is no cork and therefore not its ringmate : the TCA. The only risk of corkage may come from the barrel., that is to say 5 % cases. It also has the advantage of adapting perfectly to modern consumption : occasional purchases for consumption during the year. Thanks to his training, he has acquired a new ability : it is now possible for the winegrower to regulate the oxygenation level of the wine as it sees fit during bottling.
The big weak point of this formidable opponent is certainly his image as a Sunday boxer. With him, goodbye to the little emotion of opening the bottle. Tradition still has a very large place in the mentality of wine consumers : liège, terroir, heavy glass bottle, sober label. Our featherweight has an image of low-end wine that sticks to his skin and it's hard to get rid of it.
New World wines do not have this problem of heritage and tradition. That's why 90 % New Zealand wines and 60 % of Australian wines are closed with screw caps. It also has a famous tendency to avoid exchanges between wine and oxygen, which can lead to wine reduction phenomenon resulting in a rotten egg smell.
Boxing match turns into wrestling match
The screw cap delivers heavy blows to our heavyweight. Left, right, left. The cork stopper starts to wobble ... will the fight end there ? No, Here are two new fighters appear who throw themselves into the ring to fight too : and it's Plastic Cap and ... a complete stranger. The judge referring Beaux-Vins, let the match continue.
The plastic cap : far from being your best friend
You still have to find some qualities in him because he is often present in this kind of event. Its greatest quality is that it is not responsible for the corkage taste since it is made of plastic. It is also of significant interest to the producer, this is its cost of only 15 cents against 40 cents for the cork stopper.
But in the type of aggressive boxer ready to bite your ears at the slightest opportunity, he is the king. According to specialists, plastic is responsible for the premature aging of wine and can give chemical aromas to our precious drink. On top of that, it is totally incompatible with wines for aging, because its lifespan is only 18 months and it is perfectly out of control when it comes to oxygenation.
The unknown of combat is revealed : the Select Bio sugarcane derivative stopper
Since 2013, this little fighter is biding his time. He waits hidden in the dark for the right moment to pounce on his competitors.
To tell the truth, he's not really a boxer. He is rather tender to sing songs accompanied by a guitar around a campfire. The world leader in synthetic caps, Nomacorc, has developed a stopper based on plant polymers derived from sugar cane.
Since he is a tender foot, he also straddles ecology. Its raw material is sustainable and also has a zero carbon footprint. According to the company “each ton of sugarcane consumes 3 kg of CO² ». Its production therefore displays a negative footprint at this stage of production.. The production plant, located in Belgium, uses renewable energies to power the premises. After transport, the balance is zero while that of the synthetic plug exceeds 12 g of CO².
Its price is also very interesting : as we have seen above, a cork can cost up to 40 cents for the producer and the synthetic cap 15 cents. The objective of the Select Bio stopper is to be sold 15 % more expensive than a synthetic cap, what's left below the cork one.
You have understood that this tender foot will delight producers and consumers of organic wine and certainly has a bright future ahead of it..
Result of the fight : a heavyweight champion is not so easily dethroned
The bell has just rung at the end of the match and the referee approaches the judge to know the result. The judge raises the hand of our champion. And it's the cork once again !
We heard backstage that he wasn't going to leave the ring without a fight, but that the future was more and more uncertain for him. With the evolution of consumer attitudes, younger generations will be used to seeing wines with screw caps on the shelves and the entry of young competitors such as the Select Bio cork, he might have difficulty maintaining his heavyweight advantage in the ring.
- Flaws in wine : reduction
- Flaws in wine : corky taste
- How to store your wine in good conditions ?
- The anti-taste cork stopper
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