corkscrews & wine bottle openers
to cork or not to cork tradition romance science and the battle for the wine bottle
in judgment of paris george m. taber masterfully chronicled the historic 1976 wine tasting when unknown california wines defeated top french ones marking a major turning point in wine history . now he explores the most controversial topic in the world of wine what product should be used to seal a bottle should it be cork plastic glass a screwcap or some other type of closure still to be invented br for nearly four centuries virtually every bottle of wine had a cork in it . but starting in the 1970s a revolution began to topple the cork monopoly . in recent years the rebellion has been gathering strength . belatedly the cork industry began fighting back while trying to retain its predominant position . each year 20 billion closures go onto wine bottles and increasingly they are not corks . br the cause of the onslaught against cork is an obscure chemical compound known as tca . in amounts as low as several parts per trillion the compound can make a 400 bottle of wine smell like wet newspaper and taste equally bad . such wine is said to be corked . while corks enemies urge people to throw off the old and embrace new closures millions of wine drinkers around the world are still in love with the romance of the cork and the ceremony of opening a bottle . br with a thorough command of history science winemaking and marketing taber examines all sides of the debate . along the way he collects a host of great characters and pivotal moments in the production storage and consumption of wine and paints a truly satisfying portrait of a wholly intriguing controversy . as australian winemaker brian croser describes it its scary how passionate people can be on this topic . prejudice and extreme positions have taken over and science has often gone out the window .