Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/543749
40 WINES&VINES August 2015 PACKAGING Typical turnaround time is one working day, he said. "Some panels may take a bit longer, if sample preparation such as soaking for releas- able anisoles is required. Analyses are requested through the production and distribution pro- cess, e.g., before and after branding." Burns noted winery clients that have estab- lished solid working relationships with their cork suppliers have eliminated the need to replicate analyses. Jordan winemaker Davis commented further on TCA issues: "If you define problems with TCA contamination as having even one bottle re- jected, then yes, we have always encountered some, but it's a very low percentage." Still, he finds the risk acceptable. "Despite all the work that has gone into the reduction of TCA in natural corks, the very nature of natural corks is accepting some percent level of TCA will be present in a batch of corks we purchase. Overall, the level of TCA detected for Jordan wine is below 1%." "Everyone (including us) wants perfection. Together with our cork brokers and our quality- control department, we employ rigorous test- ing of all of the corks we receive prior to bottling. The corks we purchase exceed $1 per cork," he said. "Pricing is the least concern. We sell two products: a $53 Cabernet and a $30 Chardon- nay. We demand the very best closure, period. Part of the value or our product is that the consumer knows he or she is getting the very best without compromise," Davis stressed. "If pricing was our only concern, we would opt for grades marked down for their visual excellence but still retain high marks for the absence of TCA. To date we have found the range of quality is not related to TCA perfor- mance. Visual performance can vary greatly among purveyors. In other words, we could pay more for higher grades but still have TCA issues, which is why we test as much as we do." Getting technical "Technical corks" refer to corks formed from natural cork after it is ground and processed. In recent years, DIAM closures from G3 Enter- prises of Modesto, Calif., have dominated the market. Francois Margot, DIAM's North Ameri- can sales manager, said the company is now celebrating 10 years in the market. Closely resembling a natural cork, DIAM employs a patented cleaning technology using "supercritical CO 2 to clean cork granulate. It is the same method used to take caffeine out of coffee. It allows DIAM to give a non-detectible TCA guarantee on each cork," Margot said. The process also removes more than 150 different compounds from cork, he said. "Every single DIAM cork is clean, consistent and gives the winemaker a choice in terms of OTR and wine aging time. Working with granulate is the only way to reach true consistency with cork." He said that 1.3 billion DIAM corks were sold in 2014 around the world. "We are still experiencing double-digit growth. DIAM is used today on bottles that are priced well above $100," he said. Intro- duced in 2014, DIAM 30 bears a 30-year guarantee on wine aging." Margot reported that consumer research in Europe from IPSOS and in the United States with Full Circle tried to understand consumer reac- tions to the look of DIAM. "Both studies showed no significant differences between closures: DIAM, 1+1 or natural punched corks," he said. "Wineries using DIAM usually don't receive any feedback at all from consumers," he said. The closures can be branded by lasers, fire or ink. "Thanks to its great consistency and regu- lar surface, DIAM can be nicely branded with any font or logo." David Ramey, who produces 35,000 cases per year, now uses DIAM on all bottles from his namesake Ramey Wine Cellars in Healds- burg, Calif. He offered Wines & Vines candid comments about the closure's performance. "DIAM corks can be hard to push back into an opened bottle if the wine was recently bot- tled. We just started using it this year but had done trials with 2007 and 2010 vintage wines," he said. Previously, Ramey used natural cork. He switched because he was experiencing about 3% TCA contamination and also found oxygen transfer in Chardonnay wines starting at about six years in bottle. "When we show 10-year-old Chardonnay, we need two bottles to ensure getting one good one due to the variations in raw corks," he said. Costs are similar for small quantities of DIAM vs. natural cork, although DIAM may cost as much as 50% more at larger quantities. "But I would pay extra for DIAM corks," Ramey said, noting that DIAM closures have much less cork dust and breakage than natural punched corks. Ramey brands his DIAM closures using ink printers; cork ends and large-format closures are fire branded. What does DIAM mean for his wine? "Half of the advantage is absence of TCA/TCB. The other half is the standardized OTR (oxygen Winemaker David Ramey recently traded in natural cork closures in favor of using DIAM to seal wines. When exposed to heat, microspheres between cork granules expand up to 50 times in size. " If you define problems with TCA contamination as having even one bottle rejected, then yes, we have always encountered some, but it's a very low percentage." —Rob Davis, winemaker, Jordan Vineyard & Winery Dry soak testing is one way to make sure natural cork is free of TCA contamination.