TO CORK OR NOT TO CORK?

Cork: the traditional approach
• Pros: Cork has a long history; it has been used as the sealing method of choice for over 400 years. Cork stoppers, because they are such a pain to remove, implicitly signal quality. When they work, they work well. They’re a renewable resource (the trees are not killed when the bark is stripped to make cork). They make a satisfying “pop” when removed from the bottle. They’re readily biodegradable. And they support an entire industry of corkscrews and other cork-removal products.
• Cons: Corks often go bad. Estimates vary widely, but many bottles of wine are ruined due to corks that are tainted, ill-fitting, or deteriorated. (Depending on which figures you believe, as little as 1% or as much as 20% of all wine sold is “corked,” which is to say, damaged by a problematic cork.) Corks can be difficult to remove, and sometimes break off into the bottle. The world’s cork supplies are nearly maxed out, so cork prices are increasing.

Plastic: the new cork
• Pros: Plastic is immune to cork taint, so wine is much less likely to spoil. Plastic corks can be made more cheaply, and with much more precision, than cork stoppers. Depending on the vintner’s tastes, plastic corks can be made to look very similar to natural corks, or be molded in any imaginable designer colour. They’re recyclable. And the same cork-removal equipment (along with its obligatory “pop” sound) can be used.
• Cons: If the trees used to produce cork are no longer used for that purpose, they may be cut down to make space for more lucrative crops, thus endangering the habitat of various kinds of wildlife and altering the local ecosystem in unpredictable ways. If not recycled, plastic corks also pose a more direct threat to the environment. Some wine experts claim plastic corks unfavourably affect the flavour of wine. On the other hand, they don’t hold the aroma of wine well, making the ritual of cork-sniffing unsatisfying. The plastic may not retain its elasticity well over time, making it unsuitable for wines meant to age for decades. And most importantly, it’s just not right.

Screw caps: a strange twist
• Pros: Screw caps, like plastic corks, avoid problems of cork taint, and yet unlike plastic are much less likely to affect wine’s flavour or lose their effectiveness over time. They are less expensive than natural or plastic corks. And they can be removed without any special equipment.
• Cons: As with plastic corks, screw caps imply environmental issues associated with the loss of cork farming. Cork sniffing, of course, is right out. And again, most importantly, it’s just not right. You shouldn’t be able to get at your wine as easily as you get at your cola.

Crown seals: good enough for beer
• Pros: Crown seals (the type of bottle cap used on most beer bottles) are basically screw caps without the screw part, so they have all the same advantages except ease of removal.
• Cons: The downsides of crown seals are the same as for screw caps, with the additional issue of needing a bottle opener.

Wine News.com revised Alain Bras

Global Warming & Wine

When you talk to grape growers and winemakers today, they will tell you climate is a major factor in how good a vintage will be. Researchers have found that vintages have improved as temperatures rose over the last 50 years, especially in areas with cooler climates. Vineyards in cooler climates, such as Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Northern France and Germany, could continue to benefit from global warming. These findings could prove troublesome for vineyards in traditionally warmer regions.

Odds are we are going to continue to see a warming environment, and there will be some challenges the industry will have to meet one way or another. Researchers have found that most vintages improved as vineyards’ temperatures rose an average of 1.3 degrees Celsius over the past 50 years. The effects were strongest in cool climate regions, such as the Mosel and Rhine valleys of Germany, Muscadet western Loire Valley, Champagne and Alsace regions of France, suggesting warmer temperatures offer the greatest advantage to cold-climate grape-growing regions.

Cooler climates, such as Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Northern France and Germany could continue to benefit from global warming. But regions with warmer climates, such as Italy’s famed Chianti region, Napa Sonoma Australia and South-Africa could see grapes ripen too quickly under ever warmer temperatures. Grapes that ripen too quickly on the vine generally have higher sugar content, which produces more alcoholic wine with less acidity and balance. Rising temperatures may force growers to manage vines differently to produce similar wine styles, or to plant different varieties better suited to the changing climate. The news could be unsettling for an industry that prides itself on regional identity and reputation.

A predicted rise of another 2 degrees Celsius over the next half century could have more mixed results. Rising temperatures are already leading to changes in the industry. Whether those changes will be permanent remains to be seen, but everyone agrees in most scientific circles that change is occurring. What that change is, is still up in the air. If it really is catastrophic and not just a blip, vintners will definitely change how they plant and where they plant.

In some areas, the change could already have been very detrimental. The extreme heat wave in Europe this summer, which some experts blamed on global warming, offers an example. Southern Italy and Greece are hard-pressed to produce any good wine this year. But in southern England, it may be their best vintage since prior to the little Ice Age.

There is however a lot more at stake here than wine. If global warming is a reality, the ensuing climate disruption is going to affect every aspect of our lives — our ecosystems, our economies, and our livelihoods. Global warming may become a worldwide catastrophe, but at least some wines should be better.

---------------------Article by winenews.com revised by Alain Bras----------------------------------