Synthetic Corks
Synthetic corks are made from plastic compounds designed to look and "pop" like natural cork, but without the risk of TCA contamination. Disadvantages of some wine synthetic corks include a risk of harmful air entering a bottle after only 18 months, as well as the difficulty in extracting them from the bottle and using the plastic cork to reseal the wine. James Laube of Wine Spectator notes that some can also impart a slight chemical flavour to the wine.
Unlike natural corks, many wine synthetic corks are made from material that is not biodegradable but recyclable as either #4 or #7 (see resin identification code) in many communities. There are two main production techniques for synthetic wine closures: injection molding and extrusion (mono- and co-). Methods also exist which are claimed to combine the two techniques of injection and extrusion. A 2007 study by Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 University showed that injection molded synthetic corks allowed the highest levels of oxygen permeation in when compared to natural cork and screw caps, offering the lowest protection against oxidation of the wine. An advanced new generation of injection molded synthetic closures have developed a system of nano-cells as to perfectly replicate the cellular structure of natural cork and by exactly duplicating the permeability values of the top-quality-one-piece natural corks.,
Synthetic wine bottle closures may allow for a controlled oxygen transfer rate which has an impact on the sensory characteristics.
Read more about this topic: Alternative Wine Closure
Famous quotes containing the words synthetic and/or corks:
“In every philosophical school, three thinkers succeed one another in the following way: the first produces out of himself the sap and seed, the second draws it out into threads and spins a synthetic web, and the third waits in this web for the sacrificial victims that are caught in it—and tries to live off philosophy.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Drinking tents were full, glasses began to clink in carriages, hampers to be unpacked, tempting provisions to be set forth, knives and forks to rattle, champagne corks to fly, eyes to brighten that were not dull before, and pickpockets to count their gains during the last heat. The attention so recently strained on one object of interest, was now divided among a hundred; and, look where you would, there was a motley assemblage of feasting, talking, begging, gambling and mummery.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)