TCA CAUSED BY CORKS DROPS 80%

The Cork Quality Council issued a press release yesterday announcing that the levels of TCA found in shipments of natural corks has dropped 80% over the past 48 months. This is good news for cork lovers, but perhaps not so great for screwcaps and other non-cork enclosures which are currently fighting negative press based on a study conducted in the U.K.

Members of the New Zealand industry, the largest proponent of screwtops, are fighting against reports that the enclosure causes sulphidization - a chemical reaction caused by excess use of the preservative sulphur dioxide and a lack of oxygen. Some claim the presence of sulphur smells was a wine making fault rather than a closure problem, and "transitory unstable sulphides" in the wine, which most people would not notice, according to stuff.co.nz.