Corks are evil
For my birthday, I got a really neat book about the
wine cork industry from my brother-in-law. Great
stuff. And wow, were the points made in the book
brought home for me last night?!
We went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Nothing fancy, but pleasant. In fact, we were largely there to root for a band that featured a co-worker/friend of one of our friends. I was in charge of making the wine selection. I found two interesting wines on the list, by one of my favorite Tuscan producers, Cennatoio. (We visited the winery when we were in Tuscany in September, 2003.) I ordered a simple sangiovese, their "All'omo il Vino," a nice 100% sangiovese IGT.
Out came the wine... The waiter poured me a small amount to taste and...you guessed it, it was corked. I explained this to the waiter and he seemed dumfounded, so he called over the manager. To my shock and horror, the manager insisted on tasting it also. He (seemingly reluctantly) agreed that it was "off," but said it was their last All'omo, so I'd have to select a different one. (I was preparing for him to say it was fine, but that would have resulted in a situation neither of us would have enjoyed.) He pointed me to what he called a comparable "sangiovese" on the wine list, but it wasn't a sangiovese at all. So I pored through the list myself and decided on the All'omo's big brother, Cennatoio's Chianti Classico Riserva from 2001. A bit more expensive, but I didn't mind if we got a good wine.
Same process, same taste test, same results... I said to the manager, "you're going to hate me for this, but this wine is equally corked". By now, I could tell the manager was not a happy guy, and he again insisted on tasting it for himself. Again, he reluctantly agreed.
Two corked wines in a row. Two wines from a superb winery that were undrinkable because of an industry that has a roughly 4-5% failure rate. I've had both wines numerous times, and I know I love both. But in their wet cardboard TCA-tainted state, they were horrid.
I don't blame the restaurant for anything except the manager's bizarre performance of second-guessing his customer. And I obviously don't blame Cennatoio.
Corks are evil. The sooner we all realize that, the better off we'll all be. TCA, the chemical responsible for most "tainted" wines, is a blight on this otherwise wonderful industry that cannot and must not be tolerated. Corks are almost always to blame. We MUST demand better.
Some wineries and even countries have been leading the charge to move from cork to other stoppers. Try finding a New Zealand wine that's not sealed with a "Stelvin enclosure" (that's fancy wine-speak for "screw cap"). Although those not in the know may scoff at screw caps, you're FAR less likely to have a TCA-tainted wine from one. (It can still happen, if the TCA is introduced during the wine making or aging process, but the likelihood starts to approach zero now.)
So, next time you look at a wine that's sealed with a screw cap or a synthetic cork, please join me in saluting the winery's courage and support them in their efforts to rid the planet of corks. Corks are evil.
Cheers,
Ken
We went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Nothing fancy, but pleasant. In fact, we were largely there to root for a band that featured a co-worker/friend of one of our friends. I was in charge of making the wine selection. I found two interesting wines on the list, by one of my favorite Tuscan producers, Cennatoio. (We visited the winery when we were in Tuscany in September, 2003.) I ordered a simple sangiovese, their "All'omo il Vino," a nice 100% sangiovese IGT.
Out came the wine... The waiter poured me a small amount to taste and...you guessed it, it was corked. I explained this to the waiter and he seemed dumfounded, so he called over the manager. To my shock and horror, the manager insisted on tasting it also. He (seemingly reluctantly) agreed that it was "off," but said it was their last All'omo, so I'd have to select a different one. (I was preparing for him to say it was fine, but that would have resulted in a situation neither of us would have enjoyed.) He pointed me to what he called a comparable "sangiovese" on the wine list, but it wasn't a sangiovese at all. So I pored through the list myself and decided on the All'omo's big brother, Cennatoio's Chianti Classico Riserva from 2001. A bit more expensive, but I didn't mind if we got a good wine.
Same process, same taste test, same results... I said to the manager, "you're going to hate me for this, but this wine is equally corked". By now, I could tell the manager was not a happy guy, and he again insisted on tasting it for himself. Again, he reluctantly agreed.
Two corked wines in a row. Two wines from a superb winery that were undrinkable because of an industry that has a roughly 4-5% failure rate. I've had both wines numerous times, and I know I love both. But in their wet cardboard TCA-tainted state, they were horrid.
I don't blame the restaurant for anything except the manager's bizarre performance of second-guessing his customer. And I obviously don't blame Cennatoio.
Corks are evil. The sooner we all realize that, the better off we'll all be. TCA, the chemical responsible for most "tainted" wines, is a blight on this otherwise wonderful industry that cannot and must not be tolerated. Corks are almost always to blame. We MUST demand better.
Some wineries and even countries have been leading the charge to move from cork to other stoppers. Try finding a New Zealand wine that's not sealed with a "Stelvin enclosure" (that's fancy wine-speak for "screw cap"). Although those not in the know may scoff at screw caps, you're FAR less likely to have a TCA-tainted wine from one. (It can still happen, if the TCA is introduced during the wine making or aging process, but the likelihood starts to approach zero now.)
So, next time you look at a wine that's sealed with a screw cap or a synthetic cork, please join me in saluting the winery's courage and support them in their efforts to rid the planet of corks. Corks are evil.
Cheers,
Ken
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