Corked or screwed

Well, dear wine lovers, its been a while since I last entered this blog. I had just completed the penultimate version of my wine book when my editor requested I do a little research on closure.

I thought I was finished. I had closure with the manuscript until she asked 'what about corks and screw caps, what's the current thought on stopping up the wine bottle?' Actually all I knew about was the complaint of cork taint.

Cork taint is definitely a problem, though a minor one. Cork costs are higher than the popular Stelvin screw caps or synthetic corques. So before I explored the fine cork sites, like APCOR (the Portuguese Cork Association) and the Cork Quality Council, I had concluded screw caps, though not as aesthetically pleasing, were better than natural cork closures.

Think again. What about sustainability? From what I understand, the cork is the only sustainable closure. The cork tree is not destroyed to give us fine corks. Its outer bark is harvested about every 9 years and the cork oak tree lives for about 200 years. Cork forests support lots of critters and are a haven for biodiversity. So concerned about the loss of cork forests, the Spanish government outlawed the use of alternate stoppers in its top wine growing areas.

As always, Jamie Goode's wine anorak site has some good information on this very controversial subject.

What are your thoughts on corks vs. screw caps? Do the screw caps add to or destroy the growing trend to sustainability?