[LUM#1] Innovation in the cork
In wine, innovation is the name of the game! Stopper manufacturers come up with little revolutions to constantly improve the quality of the nectar of the gods... It's an age-old beverage, yet it's constantly reinventing itself.
" Wine has a very traditional image, but it's a sector in which there's a lot of innovation," explains the director of Montpellier's oenology training and research center. Even the little cork is full of innovation. Cédric Saucier brought together the sector's leading specialists at the University of Montpellier to present the latest innovations.
Top-level meeting for the cork
The undisputed star of corks is cork. " It's hermetic, elastic, a natural and renewable material that can last up to 70 years ," explains Cédric Saucier. It has been adorning the bottles of the finest wines since it was invented 150 years ago, " by tradition but also by necessity, as it is a material that has proved its worth for ageing wines ". Cork allows the wine to "breathe", letting in the tiny amount of oxygen needed to prevent the appearance of defects in the wine.
The only problem with cork is that it can give the wine its famous corky taste. " 3 to 7% of corks are affected, which represents a large number of bottles ", explains Cédric Saucier. The culprit is trichloroanisole(TCA), a molecule produced by fungi nestling in the cork.
While this defect doesn't discourage French consumers - three quarters of bottles sold in France have a cork stopper - it is frankly prohibitive in many countries that have opted for other materials: plastic, glass or metal. " The metal screw cap adorns one bottle in 4 worldwide, and has conquered 80% of the Australian market: zero risk of contamination, no need for a corkscrew, and a resealable bottle ", explains the specialist.
Sniffing corks
Is cork in danger of disappearing in favor of metal, a victim of its corky taste? According to Cédric Saucier, this is unlikely. "What's more, this defect may soon be a thing of the past: industry professionals are currently testing a prototype that would enable them to detect contaminated corks by "sniffing" them one by one- a revolution in the making! " enthuses the specialist, who envisages this technology being launched on the market within the next 1 to 2 years. " If we eliminate the risk of cork taint, cork will no longer have any defects! ".
No defects... but you'll still need to have a corkscrew to hand to enjoy the beverage. " Not necessarily! Here too, corkmakers are innovating, and one of them has developed a cork that can be unscrewed and screwed back on by hand ". A little piece of cork that reconciles tradition and innovation.
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