| Wine has
been around for thousands of years. From the days of the hand-fired pottery
amphorae which were stoppered with leather and mortar, we now have mass
produced glass bottles and high speed assembly lines. One thing has remained
constant for centuries now, though - the vast majority of wineries use a
natural cork stopper to seal the wine with.
"Tradition!" cry out the wine purists, bringing to mind a certain favorite movie of mine, Fiddler on the Roof. Yes, tradition is a powerful force. Cork has been used over the years because it suited its task admirably. These cylinders of tree-bark would squish just enough to get into the bottle, and hold their shape nicely to keep out air over the long years of aging. They could then be drilled through with a corkscrew, to finally release the precious nectar within. If tradition is so keen, and tree bark so wonderful, why are more and more wineries going to plastic corks? Are they merely scrooges, hoping to wring a few more pennies from their wine production?
Au Contraire, my wine loving friend! Wineries are actually horrified by the thought that this natural cork product, being pulled from a tree and all, has a relatively high chance of becoming moldy, or corked. It's completely impossible to detect the mold in the cork, so the poor wine drinker can store wine bottles for decades, waiting for the final moment of truth, only to find the wine had been destroyed from the start by this mold! The wineries merely want to ensure that their wine has every chance possible to be savored in the best manner it can be. They don't like to see their product destroyed any more than the end drinker does. Wineries cannot control shipping conditions, nor the way the drinker stores his wine next to the stove for 10 years before opening the bottle. The winery can, however, at least try to ensure that mold does not destroy the wine forever. What stands in the way of this noble quest? Tradition! Wine purists sniff at plastic corks. "That's no real bottle," they say disdainfully. "No proper $75 bottle of my favorite French reserve is going to use one of those things." And so they go on, continuing to have a portion of their wines destroyed by mold, while those drinkers who move to plastic celebrate a completely mold-free, perfect-wine existence. So the next time you see a plastic cork in your wine bottle, raise a toast to the winemaker. He is doing all he can to ensure that every glass you pour is a perfect one!
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