Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/66144
CL OSURE S them, is kept clean and properly filtered so that the risk of cross-contamination is reduced. Then care needs to be taken with the conditions these boiled planks experience before the cork is cut or punched. There has also been investment in gas chromatography equipment so that TCA, which causes contamination "Technical stoppers allow us to use a lot more raw material." —Carlos de Jesus, Amorim at incredibly low concentrations, can be detected in quality-control steps. A big problem for natural cork is the many small players who still operate using older processing practices. For techni- cal corks this is less of an issue, because these require larger scale operations that can only be carried out by bigger players that are much more likely to be imple- menting effective preventive and quality- control measures. While cork companies don't give guarantees about TCA levels, they do talk about their own data on releasable TCA levels. Cork Supply says that the releas- able TCA level for the Vapex microextra cork is consistently <0.9ng/L (nanograms per liter, which is the same as parts per trillion, ppt), with an average of 0.5 ng/L. Amorim says that average releasable TCA for Twintop is 0.52 ng/L and for Neutrocork it is 0.55 ng/L. These figures are close to the detection limits of current technology and are well below the percep- tion thresholds in humans. Basic agglomerates Taking a step back, there is still a place for basic agglomerate corks at the very bottom end of the wine market. These are effectively one-plus-ones without the cork discs at either end—simply the agglomer- ate portion, with large granules. "There's still a market for agglomerates," says de Jesus, "but it is not something we expect to see grow." Amorim recently introduced a slightly more up-market agglomerate product called Advantec, which has a coating that hides the less appealing look of agglomerate cork. This is also made by granules that have been cleaned by ROSA. "In 2010 every product Amorim sold saw growth," says de Jesus, "but big growth isn't in the low end of the market." Concluding comments Technical corks are an important segment of the closures market, and they look set to experience continued growth, especially in markets where in-neck closures are considered to be important for consumer acceptance. They have also come at the right time, as the cork industry has had to fight back against the growth in alternative closures, most significantly synthetic corks and screwcaps. "R&D for technical stoppers has helped maintain the 70% market share for natural cork," says de Jesus. "With- out the technical stoppers we couldn't keep delivering to the wine industry during the growth that the industry has experienced. Technical stoppers allow us to use a lot more of the raw material, which has been fundamental to keep up with demand, while at the same time delivering the quality and TCA control wineries need." London-based writer Jamie Goode is the publisher of wineanorak.com and special- izes in wine science issues. His first book was published in 2005 by Mitchell Beazley. Contact him through Wines & Vines at edit@ winesandvines.com. Tasz, Inc. | www.neocork.com | sales@neocork.com United States: +1 707 642 6800 537 Stone Road, Suite F, Benicia, California, 94510 Toll Free (US and Canada): 877 – NEOCORK 38 Wines & Vines AUGUsT 201 1