Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/299589
4 8 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | M a y - J u n e 2 014 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m the lot, which is composed of less- er B and C grades, in their second label or other bottlings. On a per-cork basis, Amorim's Rose said, "Prices could be any- where from $2 per cork down to 25 cents, depending upon the length and the percentage of A corks in one of our grades." He said he sees Amorim's highest grades being used mainly in wines priced $30 per bottle and up, including most top-tier wines. Where manufacturers agree is that except at the extreme ends of the quality spectrum – very low or exceedingly high – there's not much difference in the perfor- mance of natural cork. "From a marketing standpoint, wineries are willing to pay a premium for the aesthetics of high-quality corks," Rose said, "but corks function pretty much the same technically, regardless of their appearance." When it comes to assessing t e c h n i c a l p e r f o r m a n c e , h i g h e r- quality cork is less porous and, as such, it forms a better seal between cork and the surface of the bottle neck. "Theoretically, higher-quality stoppers will give you less bottle-to-bottle variation and also provide a better seal due to a smoother contact between cork and bottle neck interface," said Mowe, who sees customers reserving Flor quality for wines priced above $50 at bottle. The sole performance caveat is that higher-quality corks have shown a lower incidence of TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole), the com- pound that accounts for cork taint. In one analysis of corks for TCA by quality and size, measured using a standard ETS Laboratories group soak test and a non-detectable threshold of .25, higher-grade corks outperformed their counterparts.* Results are in keeping with the fact that higher grades of cork are han- dled with greater care and undergo more initial testing. STRIVING FOR A BETTER END According to Mowe, the cork industry is reaching the limit in its attempt to further reduce TCA *Data provided by a member of the Cork Quality Council TCA Results by length of cork Average TCA (ng/L) Number of Data 54x24mm 0.31 142 49x24mm 0.38 1,040 45x24mm 0.47 2,192 All sizes broken out by qualities Average TCA (ng/L) Number of Data Flor 0.34 700 Extra 0.40 808 Super 0.51 1,366 First 0.54 450