Why do wine bottles still have corks?!
Why do wine bottles still have corks?
its not the 1700's anymore time to modernize?
Answers:
This is a very big issue currently in the wine industry. It really depends on who the industry is catering to. Europeans have grown up on wines and know to store wine before drinking, hence the wines are designed to age. Americans are for the most part still new to wines and tend to consume their purchase within months. It is a dilemma for US wine producers to be sure their product is drinkable immediately for the public or to make the wine for long-term aging.
If the wine is to be consumed immediately: then screwtops and synthetic corks are your friend. The consumer obviously doesn't care about aesthetic qualities and just wants to enjoy the wine.
If the wine is to be consumed after aging, then the synthetic or cork is the better answer. The problem with existing screwcaps is they are too efficient in prohibiting oxygen from entering the bottle. The oxidation helps break down sulfites and promotes wine aging which many wines benefit from, primarily reds but some big whites can carry out a very long life as well. Now the problem with synthetic over cork is again, oxygen flow. Synthetic corks have no porous nature and while being pushed into a wine bottle, will push the headspace into the wine. There are studies still being done on "ageability" of synthetic bottled wine vs the traditional cork. Albeit there is a big redeeming quality of synthetic cork over traditional cork being the elimination of TCA(2,4,6-trichloroanisol) or cork taint. Synthetic cork also eliminates the usage of forests and the need for sustainable practices for the forests.
Europeans have mostly shunned screwcaps but the synthetic cork is slowly making progress. Americans however are still making the transition compared to Australians who have embraced the screwcap industry.
For those that think there are no screwcaps in the ultra-premium industry, look to Plumpjack. $150 a bottle for a screwcap wine is hardly affordable to the general public.
There are others making headway for screwcaps like Bonny Doon as well. It all depends on the consumer and the market.
Source(s):
8 years in the wine industry.
There's probably some real reason, but to me it looks like trying to keep the implied one of a kind, exclusive and premium market cachet a little gesture gives them.
You are right the synthetic corks are better. Heck the screw tops are better. But it is tradition and you aren't going to change it.
If you want screw caps drink Boones Farm or Ruinite or another cheap wine.
To keep alcoholics entertained. Don't be a victim. Anything bad that has ever happened in life was probably someway alcohol related incidents.
It has more to do with tradition then anything. It has been shown that a plastic cork is safer from bacteria and keeps wine fresher longer.
Why do our cars still run on fossil fuels? Its not the 1900's anymore time to modernize? Actually corks are going by the way side. They are being replaced with synthetic corks or dare I say, screw on caps. The cork has been around so long because its classier to uncork a bottle of wine than to unscrew some ghetto cap.
Cause whats more romantic while opening a bottle of wine?
just unscrewing the top, or getting out the foil cutter and corkscrew?... It's wine , not a cheap bottle of Night train...
It's better for the environment than plastic, and gives a bottle a lot more class than screw tops ever will.
Good wine has a cork. Cheap wine has the screw caps. One of the seven steps of wine service is to let the buyer smell the cork. So I do not forsee the cork ever going away in wine.
yes, wine in a box is the wave of the future...show people how modern you are...
The cork industry wouldn't have it any other way. And the REAL cork producers are battling against the synthetic cork producers. But I think you're going to start seeing more and more screws caps as time goes on and the stigma of screw top wine bottles further diminishes.
Why do boxes of Cracker Jacks still have prizes? Because it's tradition. You have to remember that a lot of people drink wine for the experience, not the alcohol content.
it makes it look fancier
There are many companies that use synthetic and even screw top corks are gaining acceptance. Cork was originally used because it swelled up so much when it was wet. It was also cheap, and didn't impart any taste into the wine.
i think so
They have the corks because they work and the price is right for them.Some people will not drink a wine from a screw top,how you like that? I love Walmarts Merlot--good and cheap.
100% agree with Tamman. I work in the wine industry and this is has been the latest buzz for the last few years. Most of my clients like Silverado use the screw cap exclusively on their white wines that are meant to be consumed relatively soon after purchase. Their reds all still have cork.
Screw caps also have been found to keep hold the sulfer type smell inside a bottle, instead of letting it seep out the cork. Thus making the wine taste funny and/or tainted.
There is a time and place for all