Putting a cork in it—or not

Between the hot-burner issue of sustainability and advances in wine packaging, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the two issues met, as reported in a September 4 Chicago Sun-Times story entitled, “Wine switch threatens cork forests.”

The newspaper pointed out that cork “was the standard closure for ages. But winemakers began moving to alternatives in the past decade because of problems with cork that were ruining wines.” Cork taint “is actually a chemical compound called TCA, which results from an interaction of mold, chlorine, and other organic compounds that produce a moldy or musty smell and flavor that makes wine undrinkable,” wrote the story’s author, Sarah Skidmore.

Aluminum screw caps with a plastic insert provide an alternative, but not necessarily the more sustainable choice. Citing the World Wildlife Fund, the Sun-Times article said these screw caps threaten the Mediterranean cork forests where cork oak “covers about 6.7 million acres in the region and provides income for more than 100,000 people.”

To summarize, the article quotes Willie Lunn, senior winemaker with Argyle Winery, Dundee, OR, whose business will stay with screw caps: “For us, wine making is about the wine.”

Alternative view

Others reach a different conclusion. In a September 2007 Packaging World article, Wine redesign encapsulates quality , White Rocket Wine Co., Napa, CA, switched from a screw cap to a traditional cork and capsule finish when it relaunched Tin Roof Cellars in May 2007. According to vp of marketing Mark Feinberg, “There isn’t a single account or consumer in the world that is going to turn down a cork-finished bottle, yet there still is some resistance in the marketplace to screw caps depending on the price point.”

For more information on wine packaging, visit Packworld.com/wine.

-Jim Butschli and Rick Lingle