Mork from Cork Different Personalities

Mork from Cork Different Personalities (Robin Williams TV character if you are old enough to remember):  A wine blog from Rob-Bob www.itsthewinetalking.info

 

The orgins of cork in our wine bottles started after the mid-17th century where French vintners used oil-soaked rags stuffed into the necks of bottles.  Sure many wines had a bit of ethanol funk on the nose.  Who invented the cork-based wine stoppers is unknown however it is believed that the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon began using cork. In 1956, someone found 20 wine bottles from 1789 with cork stoppers. Other researchers say that in 1600's in England wine was shipped in hand blown decanter bottles that they stuck cork in the opening.  The corkscrew hadn't been invented until 1795.  Fast forward to the early 21st century, the problem of cork taint became prevalent, leading many producers to stop using corks in favor of alternatives. Screw caps became especially prominent in Australia and New Zealand by 2010. Most cork was sourced from around the Mediterranean Basin.

 

My physcological analyis of the many different cork personalities are as follows:

 

Natural cork stoppers are made from a single piece of bark, and have the best flexibility, keeping the seal strong for aging wine for over 5 years.

 

Colmated corks are made from a single piece of bark, but have pores filled with glue and cork dust. They are easier to remove from a bottle, and are good for medium aging.

 

Multi-piece corks have two or more pieces glued together. They are denser than single-piece corks, and are not good for prolonged aging.

 

Agglomerated corks are made of cork dust and glue, and are dense, inexpensive, and not good for sealing wine for over a year.

 

Technical corks are agglomerated corks with single pieces of cork on either end.

 

All these personalities should be treated by wine professionals and even some wine bloggers.