Well, not "most", not yet. But it's definitely going that way -- and not mainly because of a cork shortage.
The future is in both artificial corks, and in screwtops -- and probably screwtops, more.
Both of them are better at keeping a long-term airtight seal. Screwtops are so good at it that they are changing how some wines are made: for a few centuries now, vintners have been adding trace ammounts of sulphur compounds to wines to kill off some of the microbes, knowing that the very small amount of oxidation that the corks allow -- including artificial corks -- will be enough to reduce those compounds.
Screwtops give a good enough seal that that doesn't happen, and so vintners have had to stop using sulfides in screwtop wines.
Generally, the artificial corks will pick up the nasty smells, but you can't tell anything from feeling them -- they don't dry out and crumble like natural corks do.
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Date: 2008-03-17 08:14 pm (UTC)The future is in both artificial corks, and in screwtops -- and probably screwtops, more.
Both of them are better at keeping a long-term airtight seal. Screwtops are so good at it that they are changing how some wines are made: for a few centuries now, vintners have been adding trace ammounts of sulphur compounds to wines to kill off some of the microbes, knowing that the very small amount of oxidation that the corks allow -- including artificial corks -- will be enough to reduce those compounds.
Screwtops give a good enough seal that that doesn't happen, and so vintners have had to stop using sulfides in screwtop wines.
Generally, the artificial corks will pick up the nasty smells, but you can't tell anything from feeling them -- they don't dry out and crumble like natural corks do.