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8 6 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | M a r - A p r 2 015 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m and Food Chemistry, shows that cork does transfer dozens of phe- nolic compounds such as vanillin, mongolicain A and B and gallic and ferulic acids, creating a unique flow of compounds that is truly unmatched by any other closure, and only known in oak barrels. But since cork is also a Quercus, this should not perhaps come as a surprise." The objective of the ongoing study is to understand the role cork plays in the bottle over a period of time. "At this stage, we know that cork compounds do migrate to wine and react with the wine," de Jesus said. "This creates new compounds. While chemically we have found them in the wine, their direct impact at the sensory level has not yet been detected after one year in bottle. But we expect this impact to be established later on during a multiyear wine evolu- tion process. "This is relevant because it is tion to the TCA issue, new studies focus on the positive interaction between cork and wine. "What if a cork added something to the wine that is positive?" asked de Jesus. With this question in mind, Amorim scientists are looking at how phe- nolic compounds present in cork may interact with the wine. "There is transference they can measure," de Jesus said. "We knew that highly regarded Champagne and sparkling wine houses were doing their second- ary fermentation using cork stop- pers during this critical process," he added. "Mainly, this happened because of the added complexity obtained in the process. Based on this, we worked with them to estab- lish, from a scientific point of view, what role cork played in reaching this higher quality in the wines. "Our research, recently pub- l i s h e d i n t h e E u r o p e a n F o o d Research Technology Journal and the U.S. Journal of Agricultural expected to shape the oxy-reduc- tive characteristics of the wine, which in turn is fundamental to a balanced wine evolution and sen- sory profile." LOOKING AHEAD Thanks to technology advances and continued research, de Jesus believes the cork industry is in a very good position going into 2015. "Consolidation is weeding out the producers that don't get with the quality program," he said. "The result is that the quality level is increasing. No one hates taint more than we do. The industry has also turned the tide on cork's declining market share. "The market had options," de Jesus said, "and it has validat- ed the improvements that have been made." Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. ¤§¡နªဖ£န¡ဖန န¡န¡¤န 3 Ŷၾ¡£ ¡ª£န¬န¡£န¦£ ¤Ŷ£¦£ ¡¥Àထ ဠ¨¤¦¨¡န ¦ª¡¢®¦¤ª¤£¤Ŵထ ªဠ¤¡£¤န 2479 Courage Drive, Ste A, Fairfield, CA 94533 O: (800) 532-2207 (707) 207-7900| F: (707) 399-8381 info@cbcork.com| www.cbcork.com | www.cb.com.pt C B USA