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This very pretty, touristy town is overrun with Italians today. I feel that my dreadful French (ie, nonexistent) isn't so much of a handicap. It's cloudy but the clouds are breaking up a little, and the afternoon may end up as gorgeous as yesterday. I had big plans to go to some wineries in the area, at least in Montlouis a mere 10 km from here, but jetlag is, as usual, making me feel phased out and sluggish. The Chidaine wineries might well wait till tomorrow. I'm content to hang...
If the flurry of construction that's been underway along the waterfront in downtown Napa is any indicator, the once-sleepy city is on the brink of becoming a major tourist destination. And the Oxbow Public Market - at just three months' old one of the newest additions to the downtown area - may be one of the city's most promising new arrivals. Read on for the scoop on our favorite purveyors in this venue that looks poised to become the next big thing in a whole new Napa.
The world's leading manufacturer of natural cork products, announced today the release of their 2007 Sustainability Report. The 2007 Report aims at providing disclosure to Amorim's stakeholders on the Company's best practices in sustainable cork manufacturing.
More Good News for the Environmentally Conscious Consumers
"Our 2006 Sustainability Report was the first of its kind and was acknowledged by CorporateRegister.com for the 'Openness and Honesty' of its content - something we take pride in. The 2007 edition, still the only industry report, again focuses on the Company's policies and practices, as well as the main initiatives and objectives we have achieved to date." Antonio Amorim, Chairman & CEO, CORTICEIRA AMORIM said about the Report.
If you?re interested in designing your own custom wine cellar there are a number of options available to you. The best news is that there are wine cellar designs for everyone from the avid do-it-yourselfer to the complete woodworking novice.
There are modular wine racks that are available in different grains and finishes, with the least expensive generally being a wood such as pine. Most modular wine rack dealers will offer other materials such as red cedar or finished wood as well. Of course you can always save some money and finish the wood yourself if you desire a particular type of finish or color for your wine cellar racks.
There are many wine racking companies that offer crown molding and skirting pieces so that you can easily combine different styles of wine cellar racking materials and types. This approach can yield some very unique custom wine cellar designs.
There are built in glass racks that are made to fit snugly within a rack system. A good place for one of these individual units would be above the table top piece mentioned above. This would add to the ambience as well as functionality of your custom modular wine racking system.
If you want something a little different than the traditional wood wine cellar racks, there are attractive metal trellis rack pieces that are very economical, yet stylish. These tend to look classier than the wood modular wine racking pieces, especially for placement in bar areas that will be viewed by visitors.
If you would like to add a table area to your wine cellar while increasing the storage capacity of your cellar at the same time, a wine bin table may be the best addition to your modular racking system. There are taller, wine tasting tables that hold just over 100 bottles or about 180 bottles of wine, and there are shorter wine rack tables that hold more than 200 wine bottles in case bins.
There are many online dealers and manufacturers of wine cellar racking pieces that also offer custom computer design services to help you achieve the exact wine cellar layout that you have in mine. With many of these professional services you can then have the plans sent to you and decide if you will build them yourself or have someone else build them for you.
With all of the wine cellar design options available to you, there are many ways to accomplish the perfect wine cellar design for you and your situation. There are many wine enthusiasts online communities and the like where you can find others interested in the same things that you are and maybe gain some other ideas about wine cellars and the design aspect of creating your own wine cellar.
Le Trois Emme is named for the three grand daughters of the owner. Don't feel sorry for his grandson, he had a wine named after him. Dominique and I went to the Clark Museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. We decided to go a little out of our way on the ride home, and visit Le Trois Emme Winery & Vineyard in New Marlborough, Massachusetts. It's only a stone's through from the New York state line. And the ride is beautiful.
When you first enter, a table of their award winning wines greets you, along with an assortment of tapenades and spreads as well as flavored olive oils, all available for purchase.
Invariably were were welcomed by several of owners' J. Wayne and Mary Jane Eline's daughters who run the tasting room with precision and a sense of humor. Immediately one gets the sense of being a part of the family.
A tasting notes sheet, a pen, and a glass await you at the bar, and one of Wayne's daughters jokes, "We'll tell you what to drink, what to eat, and when to do it." They're only half kidding. The tasting consisted of six of their wines, though several other were available for sale, but not tasting.
The fun really begins when you see that behind the bar they are preparing plates of food! Small canapes and tasty snacks. As the plates are delivered to you, the first wine is poured, the Seyval Blanc. We were then "ordered" to taste the wine, take a bite of our baked pot sticker or dumpling, and then taste another sip of wine. It was a great experience!
We then tasted a Cayuga along with a double-cheese melt on a thin slice of rye; their Nick Jackson Blush with nothing (boo!); their Shiraz-Cabernet with a roasted pepper and feta spread on a cracker; their Old Vine Zinfandel with salmon and a creamy cheese on a cracker, and the Berkshire Red with a spicy quesadilla.
Arguing which pairing I thought would have gone better could go on for days with no real better anwer. All the tasting experiences were lovely.
All the wines were very drinkable. They are an award winning winery, so you're not going to go too wrong. Dominique and I both liked the Seyval. We thought it had nice charachter to it. Solid grapefruit-y ending. Very nice and crisp.
We also both liked the blush. It's a very light red wine, and dry as a bone. Very crisp and delicious when served cold. Very nice. A very sophistacated dark rose'.
The Old Vine Zinfandel is a Gold Medal winner, and the Bershire Red is a Syrah blended with Centurion. I liked the Berkshire Red the best of the three. A great food wine.
As tastingroom experiences go, I thought it better than many which seem to be in a rush to get your five dollars, throw you a few sips of wine, and push you to the cash register. This is a much more enjoyable atmosphere. And a lot fo fun!
Le Trois Emme is a delightful find in the Bershire Mountains.
Four VinesThe Peasant 2005 $36 Wine Label says: Temprance, like chastity, is its own punishment. 40% Mourvedre, 32% Syrah, 17% Grenache, 7% Counoise, 4% Tannat Rabbi Tuchman says: This Paso Robles wine gets SIX thumbs up from our dinner group. This is not a subtle wine. The descriptors going around the table were “full bodied” and “sharp.” We also [...]
Is it hot and humid where you are? Temperatures in northern California have been over 100 degrees in many places, and all across the country folks are complaining about the heat. (photograph "hot hot sun" by masaaidh)
If this sounds like you, you need to go out and get yourself a bottle of Fino Sherry. This may sound wrong, wrong, wrong if "sherry" conjures up great aunt Alice's stuffy front room, crocheted doilies, and tiny glasses of amber liquid served at room temperature that were cringingly sweet. But I'm telling you the truth: Sherry is the best wine you aren't drinking in a heat wave.
There are a few rules if you are interested in putting my veracity to the test. First, you need to go to a store that carries and sells a lot of Sherry. If it has dust on the bottle, you don't want it. You also need to buy a bottle from Spain. Sherry comes from Spain, in much the same way that Champagne comes from France. Other places make make wine with Palomino grapes, but it's just not Sherry. Finally, it needs to be dry and it needs to be pale--this means looking for labels that say Fino, Pale Dry, or go for Manzanilla. (the glass to the far left in this picture has Fino sherry in it, fyi) I've had a few bottles of Sherry here in the US, and the one I go back to over and over again because it's indecently affordable and widely available is Osborne Pale Dry Fino. It also is bottled with a screwcap in a process that keeps it tasting fresh as long as possible. This will cost you somewhere between $7 and $17 a bottle depending on where you are, and where you buy it. I bought my bottles for $11.99 at Weimax just outside San Francisco.
When you get your bottle home, put it in the coldest part of your fridge. Wait until it's very, very cold. Then put two small wine glasses in the freezer. Not thimbles--proper small wine glasses like the ones in the pictures above. My first glass of Fino was served to me in frosted glasses in Bilbao, Spain, so you want to trust me on this detail: frosted glasses keep the sherry cold and that's a good thing.
While you're waiting 5-10 minutes for the glasses to frost up, scrounge the cabinets and fridge for some cured meat (chorizo? salami? pepperoni?), some cheese (Manchego? Parmigiano? goat cheese?) some olives, and some nuts. Good potato chips are also an option. Put whatever you find on a plate--congratulations, you have just made tapas--take your frosty glasses out of the freezer, and pour some of your Fino into the glass.
It should be very, very pale. If it isn't, your bottle wasn't that fresh and you can either drink it anyway or take it back to the store and ask for something that's arrived in the store sometime this year. As you drink it, your body temperature will feel like it went down 10 degrees and you will swear that you have filled your lungs with ocean air. You will be struck by the slight brininess of the Fino (especially if eating olives), or its nuttiness (especially if eating a handful of nuts or some cheese). And you will be amazed at the way the spicy meat of your choice is perfect with the cold, cold wine.
This is the truth nobody tells you about sherry. And when people do tell you these truths, you probably weren't listening. This may sound like a "me, too" post and that I'm jumping on a moving bandwagon since Eric Asimov posted about the attractions of Sherry on Wednesday in the New York Times, but I'm going to post it anyway. There can't be too many people talking this stuff up. AVIN8443490598145 Curious about the small print? I'm trying out a new way of linking to a social networking site for wine called Adegga. It automatically picks up this AVIN number and links it to a data entry for the wine, and to the contents of individual cellars and tasting notes. I'll be writing a story about it soon, but until then expect to see tiny alpha-numeric lines at the bottom of wine review posts.
We have the habit of dropping into our local discount grocery outlet and going through all of the many marked down wines they carry. We buy 6 plus various varietals and brands at a time and put them out at our weekly family gathering for all to try. We have all been very impressed with Santino 'old vine' Zin. I went back and bought all the bottles they had left! Happy to find your site.
Following the theme of my last post about Americans? increasing awareness of the quality wines that many artisan producers of Argentina are exporting, I?m pleased to post the first installment of my interview with Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections. Along with his business partner, Nick Ramkowsky, they formed a company that not only imports the wines of artisan Mendoza producers, but selectively forges meaningful, long term relationships with them. As Ed Lehrman explains in the interview, this type of involvement encompasses much more than shipping and distribution, extending into representation, consulting, label design and many other crucial aspects which in the end, bring American consumers the types of genuine artisan wines that multinationals couldn?t even conceive of delivering.
Based out of Sausalito, CA, Vine Connections has been at the forefront of the changing of the guard, in terms of tastes, that I described in my last post. Their portfolio includes excellent California, New Zealand and Japanese Saké producers, alongside the wines of star Mendoza winemakers Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky, along with others to look out for, such as Mapema, Tikal and La Posta del Viñatero. If you really want to know what Argentines really like to have at the table and moreover, the breadth that Argentine wines are capable of achieving, I encourage you to explore the types of artisan producers that Vine Connections represents and whose work, over the coming years, will ultimately triumph over the characterless, corporate-backed South American wines saturating our shelves.
I would like to thank Ed Lehrman for taking the time to provide his in-depth responses concerning Vine Connections, its vision and inspiration. Our conversation unfolded over e-mail:
*What is the vision behind your company and what were some of the key experiences that led you and your business partner to get started?
- My partner, Nick Ramkowsky, and I have both been in the wine business since 1986 (we started very young), and we could have done any number of things together. Nick was a small California distributor at the time, and I had just sold my direct-to-consumer wine business where he had been one of my suppliers. A fateful trip together in May of 1999 launched us into the importing/national sale & marketing business. We spent about a week in Mendoza on that trip tasting wines from bottle, barrel, tanks?you name it?and we met some incredible winery owners and winemakers. By the end of the week, we were looking at each other and asking, ?How does the 5th largest wine producer in the world hide incredible wines like these from the US?? It seemed like this must be the opportunity of a lifetime for wine guys like us to lead the charge in introducing Argentine wine to the US, and in a way that they would be fully appreciated for their quality and authenticity, and not just their price. As an aside, of the first 12 wines we imported from Argentina, the LEAST EXPENSIVE wine was $22 retail! So in fact, Vine Connections was originally formed in order to be an Argentine wine importer. *Compared to other importers, what is the depth of Vine Connection's involvement with the producers its represents? (in terms of consulting, marketing, other assistance, etc.)
- It is hard to speak about other importers, since some do quite a lot and some just taste and buy. As for us, we take the approach that we are the winery?s own sales & marketing department and they can use us for as little or as much as they need. That may mean writing back label copy, helping with label design, or determining whether a new blended wine is even a good idea to add to their portfolio.
For all of our wineries, we do the copywriting for all printed materials since we can communicate their stories in English more effectively, and along the same lines, we handle most press relations since we are here and readily available. And I guess the most valuable thing we do would be called ?consulting? since we offer our advice on many topics based on our 40 years of working in the U.S. wine biz. *How does your company forge relationships with producers? In this vein, what is the process like for you when considering an addition to your portfolio? Do the producers come towards you in the way of trade events, do you travel to areas to scout, so to speak, or some combination thereof?
- We are very careful in this regard since our objective as an importer is to build brands and not just sell wine. That requires long-term relationships, so besides tasting backwards and forwards through a winery?s production, we spend as much as time as we can with the owners and the winemakers to see whether there is a good fit for working closely together. When we meet people who already think they know it all about winemaking, marketing, etc., we politely walk away no matter the wine quality. Our initial screen is the wines?they have to be particularly good since that is what we are known for importing. Then we start talking about their philosophies, their dreams, their business objectives, and where we should all eat dinner together (a meal with a potential supplier is always a good way to gain more insight).
This process means that while we have run into some wines that we like, we have sometimes been unwilling to take the winery on. The most common stumbling block for us seems to be that the winery lacks a strong winemaking philosophy, and often because they have abdicated this cornerstone to a consulting winemaker (and most often to foreign winemakers). As time has passed, we have pretty much settled into the idea of only representing wineries owned by Argentines and with Argentine winemakers since the winemaking vision is usually clearer and more grounded in expressing what makes Mendoza so special compared to other regions.
From the first moment that we meet a winery team, it usually takes about 18 months before we come to an agreement, do the ground work, and then start selling the wines in the U.S. It seems to work--we have never lost an Argentine winery and every brand that we represent has achieved a significant level of success.
I wish I could say that finding these producers followed a particular recipe, but in truth, all of our brands have come to us via different sources. The key is to have your radar on all the time so that the best ones don?t slip by accidentally.
*You represent Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky's Dominio del Plata Winery?how did that relationship come about and how far back do you go?
- Well, if it weren?t for the ?dynamic duo? of Mendoza, we may never have been Argentine wine importers. We met them on our first trip to Mendoza in 1999, and they were so obviously talented and knowledgeable that they got us thinking a lot about the possibilities. We also formed a trusting relationship so quickly that it became obvious that we would work together, and together push forward a common vision of making Argentine wine part of the daily American fine wine conversation. That seems like an ominous task looking back now?we had no company yet and they were renting a very small winery at the time?but at the time it just seemed like destiny.
When I first saw this link, I didn?t quite understand what they were talking about. But, never fear my friends, I did the research and am now perfectly prepared to tell you about the Dutty Wine Dance.
There is a Jamaican rapper who wrote a song entitled ?Dutty Wine?. To the best that I can decipher dutty should translate to dirty. The basis of the song is that he is poor and can only afford dutty wine that gets him very?.um?inebriated. Apparently it also gets the women he is with very drunk as well and this is the dance they do for him while drinking it.
The middle class is in an uproar. All their little girls are doing the 'Dutty Wine'. From left, right and centre, even disabled children, everybody is doing the 'Dutty Wine'.
Disabled children? Did they really go there?
Not wishing in any way to detract from the suggestive nature of the dance, I must point out that it is impossible to do it without long tresses. If you can't get your hair to swing round and round your head while you get down on all fours on the ground, you're not doing the 'Dutty Wine'. It requires supreme flexibility. Consequently, there's not a child who hasn't been stopped from doing it by a parent in the last few months
OK, why are CHILDREN in Jamaica doing this dance. I mean, it sure doesn?t sound like the hokey pokey to me.
The ones I feel sorry for are the disabled children. They don't have legs, so it's perfect for them. They can wine their little hearts out. But even when they do it, it's suggestive if not more so. All the adults hurriedly put a stop to it. Poor little children.
LOL! OMG, did I read that right? Why do they keep picking on the disabled kids? Are there just tons of disabled kids sitting around in Jamaica waiting to do a dance?
What?s worse is that I went on You Tube to see what it was all about and when I searched Dutty Wine I got like 50 million results. Here is one of the first ones I found but the most important question is ?How in the hell could a disabled child do this?
What, it's Thursday already? So much to do before heading across the Pond again. So here's the itinerary: 1. JFK to CDG to the Loire. Haven't figured out the wineries we'll visit but thank you all for the great suggestions. 2. Paris for a day and a half. 3. Flight to Naples, then drive to near Sulmona in Abruzzo. Visit with the lovely Pietrantonj family at their winery. 4. Back to Naples, hopping around Campania with Fortunato Sebastiano. Tasting of coastal and mountain Aglianicos and Fianos.
Batman or ABBA? Contrasting cinema styles did battle last week when two potential blockbusters opened in movie theaters. I was amused this past weekend to hear about all the excitement and anticipation for the newest Batman film, The Dark Knight , which seemed to win out with movie fans (and their money), although the feel-good musical Mamma Mia! drew well, too.
Are you the Mac-daddy/-mommie when it comes to creativity?
Have you ever looked at all the blasé wine labels out there and thought, "I could do so much better."?
Well, here's a chance to explore your creative side and score a case of a soon-to-be classic red wine - Juice Crew Red.
So far, the J.Crew has nicknamed our maturing vino, "The Mighty Brick." I think we'd like the label to reflect her personality (perhaps listening to a little Rick James could inspire potential label designers out there):
"So all and all, the blend has resulted in what we wanted - a rich rhone style wine with some backbone. The different varietals playing nicely in the sandbox. Great dark color, long sexy legs and built to party"
Here's the deal - submit a label design, which reflects our sexy Rhone brickhouse and you could win...1 case of JC Red. Now that's what I call a case for creativity!
Details: Submit* your design entry by November 15, 2007. The editor will select 3 designs to be voted on by Juice Crew members and Basic Juice readers. The winning designer will receive the case of Juice Crew Red when it's released (we award no wine before its time).
*by submitting a design, designer retains no rights to design, but will be credited by name
I've just finished going through a clutch of Hollick reds. I always think of them as one of Coonawarra's better producers, though clearly in recent years they've invested more and more in the nearby Wrattonbully region. I tasted through the following wines:
... and I was expecting that the Hollick Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 would come out clearly on top. It didn't. Indeed it wasn't even a Coonawarra wine that I preferred the most.
Reviews are in the Latest Reviews section of this website. The Latest reviews section is available to paid Subscribers only.
Part 3 of our visit to Vintage Walla Walla continues with visits to a few winemaking folks where we participate in a blending trial with Woodward Canyon’s Rick Small. Of course, some winery visits were an absolute must (no pun intended), so we paid a visit to Pepper Bridge and Basel Cellars, followed by a terrific wine tasting.
2004 Bass Phillip “Estate” Chardonnay: Cloudy light golden colour. Oatmeal, nutty characters, soap and citrus peel on the nose. Rich and round palate with acidity that seems a little bit prickly. I think it was better than I’ve made it sound, but I can’t muster a whole lot of enthusiasm for it. 87/100
2007 Primo Estate “d’Elena” Pinot Grigio: Very pale colour. Banana and tropical fruits (mostly pineapple) aromas. Texturally interesting, but there is also a bit of alcohol heat on the palate that I found distracting. 85/100
1997 Paringa “Estate” Pinot Noir: Dark ruby colour, a little bit murky as well I thought. Cherry, raspberry, stalks and damp soil. The acid is sticking out, but I thought the rest of the flavour on the palate carried well. May have looked a bit better a couple of years ago. 87/100
1986 Domaine Jacques-Frederic Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses: Light red, with some orange tints around the rim. Yeasty and baked aromas on opening, we feared that it may be dead. We moved on to another wine to give this some time to see what happened and the recovery was pleasing. After around 60 minutes there were some earthy, dusty aromas coming through. Then another look after 90 minutes showed some spice, cherry and perfume like aromas. Palate never shed its dominant tannin, but it was quite drinkable anyway. It didn’t hit any great heights, but the recovery was remarkable and it ended up a nice drink. 87/100
1996 Domaine Bart Bonnes Mares Grand Cru: Medium purple coloured. Nose was very shy throughout the time we spent with it - there were fleeting scents of dark cherry, mocha, rose petal and some other floral notes. The palate is lovely though, it is quite youthful but layered, balanced and very long. Plenty of potential in this wine over the next 10 years. 91/100
1977 Graham Vintage Port: (375ml) Light crimson colour. Earth, spice, roast nuts and mint on the nose. There is a pleasing brown sugar style flavour to the palate, but it is noticeably lacking in depth. Not really what I expected in terms of richness and complexity, would like to know how it looked on following nights. 88/100
Smell is such a personal thing. It’s the way our monkey brain inspects food; it’s the we attract each other; it’s pleasure, memory, nature and nurture. So I don’t know whether it’s my Mediterranean genes that make me love the smell of marzipan, or whether it’s the memory I have of stealing a log of [...]
FishEye Merlot caught my eye at the supermarket yesterday when trying to find a good cheap wine to pair with my pasta and chicken dinner.
Nice and fruity, I think the strongest aroma was plum. This wine was a good match to my dinner, and a good value for $5.89. I’d like to try their Cab one of these days.
The topic of price vs. quality in wine keeps coming up, and not just among savvy wine drinkers looking for the most bang for their buck when they buy a bottle. Last week, Steven D. Levitt, an economics professor, made a pretty bold assertion in his Freakanomics blog for the New York Times .
Hollyhock Hill, the venerable family-style restaurant on Indianapolis? north side, is one of the subjects featured in a coast-to-coast culinary road trip in the the July 2008 issue of Saveur magazine.
The editors loved the place, pronouncing it "the world's best fried chicken" and giving it more than three full-page color photos. They also print Hollyhock Hill's fried chicken recipe, which seems too simple to be accurate: Season with Kosher salt and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight, dredge chicken in flour and fry in a 12" cast-iron skillet with 3/4" of lard or shortening heated to 350°F; fry for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally, then reduce heat and fry about 10 minutes more until done; drain and serve. (I've never made fried chicken that I was happy with, so I'll try it!)
Another stop for Hoosier food was made at the Strongbow Inn in Valparaiso. The editors liked it too, and published the inn's recipe for Turkey Noodle Soup. Not making the cut for the wrong reasons was the Nashville House, which the editors skipped because it didn't look "authentic" enough. They'll get letters....
As part of the promotion for the recent Uncorked! Wine Festival at Ghirardelli Square - at which I gave a food and wine pairing seminar to a packed room at Cellar 360, so fun! - I appeared on the Bay Area's popular day time talk show, ABC's View From the Bay. In this clip also featuring View From the Bay's Nick Smith and local chef Kasey Passen, I chat about the festival and wine pairings for two delicious dishes prepared by Kasey - a summer salad and super rich chocolate dessert. Pictured here, a very funny moment at the end of the segment when Nick couldn't fit his hands into the gloves they gave him to roll the chocolate - we were all cracking up.
The clip should be live for about 60 days. Enjoy! Click on "continue reading" for the link.
Lime. My #2 favorite smell and my #4 favorite taste. Here’s something about my favorite two limey and ready products: How To Prevent Scurvy and Get a Buzz in this issue of the Seattle Weekly Incidentally, my other top four smells are: violets, cardamom, Bailey’s and coffee, and pho. And yes, every one of these smells is grafted [...]
From Decanter: Christie’s is set to announce the departure of its long-standing head of wine auctions in the US. Christie’s vice president Richard Brierley has returned to the UK after nearly eight years running the auction house’s North American division. Brierley, a British subject, will now oversee preparations for the yearly Hospices de Beaune auction in France, [...]
Many people would be able to identify a bottle of wine that was truly faulty and, in a restaurant, ask for a replacement. But would you be able to tell what the fault was or what to blame for it? It is all to do with perception threshold. Different faults require different parts per thousand or even million to be perceived.
Some people are more sensitive to certain faults than others so while the host, who may taste the wine as it is brought to the table, is happily quaffing, one or more guests could be secretively retching into their napkins. Depending on how well you know your host and judging, diplomatically, how much of an ego dent your comments could produce, it might be worth discreetly asking people to have another careful sniff.
At a wine faults workshop this week, it was made clear that a fault is only a fault if the people drinking the wine consider it to be. For example the "fault" brett - produced from brettanomyces yeast acting on the phenolic acids of the grape - is a characteristic that some tasters love and some winemakers deliberately introduce. It can produce strong animal characteristics that enhance a wine's complexity and increases some people's pleasure.
Of course it is very important to get the balance right because the smallest increase tips a wine over from animal (yum) to bretty (yuck). And even in the lower doses some people adore the fragrant pong while others will recoil in horror at the filthy stench. Perception is all.
Then there is actual corkiness. Produced by TCA, TBA and TeCA it has various origins like the high levels of chlorine used to clean the winery and equipment, the breakdown of other cleaning agents by funghi in the winery - low ventilation and high humidity contibuting to high levels in the atmosphere.
The cork industry is keen to point out that it is not something inherently present in the corks more of a contamination at the winery. The plastic in alternative closure linings etc are equally susceptible to this contamination. With increased awareness, far higher standards of hygiene than ever before and alternative cleaning solutions available t
Tecnorati
at providing disclosure to Amorim's stakeholders on the Company's best practices in sustainable cork manufacturing. 
