There is a big problem with your wine. It affects approximately $10 billion of wine every year and has been described as the “biggest problem in the wine industry today” by Jean Gunnen of Verget Winery.

It’s just that we’ve been doing it for so long, we’ve forgotten what it’s like not to. It’s the symbol of quality, romance and tradition.

Cork. That little piece of bark plug, a thorn in the bottle’s side.

Based on decade-long studies, as many as 1 in 6 bottles are adversely affected by its cork.

For so long you have romanticized the opening ritual, and with all its kinesthetic and aesthetic appeals it’s easy to see why. It’s the symbol of a “true” bottle of wine.

What is so wrong with the cork anyways? Plenty.

The term, though nebulous, is cork taint. Causation of cork taint is attributable to several sources, the main culprit being 2,4,6 trichloroanisole, or TCA, which develops as a chemical reaction of the polyphenols found in the grapes, cork, paint, plastics, barrels and virtually all industrial settings and the chlorine and molds found in these locations. Plus many wineries demand their suppliers process corks with chlorine to give them the clean, uniform appearance.

TCA is one of the most powerful aromatic compounds that exists in nature. In fact, half a tablespoon of pure TCA could ruin all the wine produced in the U.S. each year. But this compound is a natural component of corks at time of harvest.

Additionally, many corks do not have the elastic structure required to maintain a hermetic seal, thus allowing the free exchange of air which will eventually oxidize the wine. Symptoms include the smell and taste of wet cardboard, a moldy basement or a dirty sock. Serious cases of cork taint are easy to identify, those less so that pose a threat to the producer. A far more common scenario is a general lackluster profile of a wine, characterized by weak aromas, muted fruit and dulled color. Because most wine consumed in the U.S. isn’t cellared for long, the majority of problems don’t have time to develop into full blown sickness?so many consumers just excuse the bottle as mediocre and opt for a different producer next time.

Some labels have begun using synthetic, or NeoCork, in their wines, and though they solve some of natural cork’s shortcomings, they are not without their own. Many producers won’t use them because their effectiveness hasn’t been proven, but it can’t be because they won’t use them.

Over time, synthetics, made of a thermoplastic elastomer, have been known to brown the wine, giving it the aroma of burned plastic. But the synthetics industry says these flawed early versions have been corrected.

Still some argue new synthetics work too well, not allowing what they feel is a necessary miniscule oxygen exposure for a natural bottle aging process.

But really, how important is ageability in the American market? Ninety five percent of wines in the U.S. are consumed within one year of purchase, and many in the time it takes to get home and find the corkscrew.

While only five percent of producers employ synthetics, this, and their quality, is expected to increase. This method does have the distinct advantage of requiring the use of a corkscrew.

Neither you, the producer, retailer or sommelier wants to hear this, but the only pure and true way to transfer the full expression of a wine from maker to drinker is, indeed, the screw cap. It allows for indefinite aging without any interference from the enclosure.

Though the system still carries a significant taboo, many high-end producers have begun to use it to protect their wine. I know if I buy a $50+ bottle I want to be 100-percent sure of its contents, don’t you? New Zealand and South America are way ahead of us; both have all but standardized the practice for their whites, and are moving towards more reds each year.

Much like natural corks are associated with quality, so the screw cap is with the lack thereof. But the pendulum has swung, and the young and the savvy having already caught on.

I say for too long we have accepted the cork as the last word in wine preservation. It would be unacceptable for any industry to expect the consumer to absorb a 15-percent failure rate, so why should the wine industry? The time is ripe for a revolution, placing more value on what’s in the bottle than how it’s enclosed.

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