There is a most useful website for all kinds of wine information which can be found at www.wine.co.za.  Not only do they have a comprehensive diary of wine events, but there is all sorts of news, articles, the latest releases etc.  Various contributors submit articles for general perusal, and in the main these pass by without too much attention.

However, a recent article by Neil Pendock entitled "Cork Catastrophe" has opened up not just a can of worms, but in this case, a barrel-full!

The weekly article, which is usually read a couple of hundred times (they publish the numbers), has so far hit 2700 and is still climbing!  There are also many "Comments", (including mine), ranging from complete agreement with the underlying sentiments, to fierce defences from, naturally enough, the cork industry.  There are comments from as far afield as USA and New Zealand.

So what is it that has sparked such unprecedented interest?  Well obviously the title gives us more than a hint…………..

Following a recent tasting for a major international airline, the chairman of judges pronounced that "South Africa has the worst corks in the world".  This was as a result of far too many bottles being found to be "corked".

(The term "corked" is often misinterpreted to mean that the wine has particles of cork floating in it, generally following careless use of the corkscrew; though this is often the result of inferior corks, this does not result in the wine being "corked".

A corked wine is one that is suffering from TCA, the musty unpleasant smell caused mainly by the action of chlorine on the cork.) Latest accepted estimates put the incidence of cork taint as high as 15% on Sauvignon Blanc, a frightening failure rate, though figures as high as 30-40% were quoted in the article.

Of course, as SA has to import its corks, it could be argued that the fault is not ours, and that the suppliers keep the best raw material for their own country's production, or at least that of its friendly neighbours.  However, it could also be argued that local producers might not be prepared to pay for the best material, given the far-from-friendly market conditions prevailing. Indeed, one Portuguese wine-maker noted that a decent cork now costs more than a litre of wine! (not sure if this is a more of a reflection on his wine, but it's still a valid point)

Either way, surely there must be a better alternative, particularly for the lower to mid market wines.  Certainly there is a great deal of research and experimentation going on, with screw-caps, glass stoppers, even crown caps as found on beer bottles.  But the majority of people want to stick to cork, even to the extent that one of our leading winemakers has had to revert to corks from screw-caps as restaurants were returning his wines because the public didn't want them!  His comment was that people would rather drink badly spoilt wine with a cork closure than a perfect wine without!

So why the resistance to change? What is the attraction about something which would appear to be so patently inefficient?  Can it be the "romanticism" attached to pulling the cork, the unmistakeable "pop" (followed ever-increasingly it would seem by the unmistakeable pong)? Surely in this fast-paced, fast-food, instant communication world, we can't be hanging on to this archaic, inefficient closure just for a quick pop?

If that's what you want, why not just drink champagne, whose corks, incidentally, don't seem to suffer from TCA to anywhere near the same extent.

No, it's time to move on.  Just imagine - no more dry picnics because someone forgot to pack the corkscrew; no more red wine stains down your new shirt when half the contents of the bottle come out with the wretched cork!

In my opinion, it certainly is time that we pulled the cork!

Whatever your opinion, you can still buy the best "properly sealed" wines from your nearest Manuka Fine Wine Boutique, the details of which can be found on www.manuka.co.za

Stephen Digby
Manuka @ Southeys

Please note that the comments in this article are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of Manuka nor its operators.