The Somm Journal

118 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 { somm summit } A SHIFT TO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Ridge Vineyards 1995 Monte Bello, California "We aren't going to talk about fruit; we are going to talk about cork," Master Sommelier and APCOR cork consortium representative Matt Stamp said with a smile as the material in question was passed around. "Basically, what you are holding in your hands is an ancient device, right?" Despite the statistic that 1 percent of all bottles closed with a cork fail due to TCA tainting or any of its close cousins (TBA, TeCA or other anisole problems), and the fact that we've named this chief wine fault to be synonymous with the closure itself, it is amazing this product has had the ability to endure as the de facto bottle closure for close to 400 years. "What other product could survive such awful PR?" asked Stamp. "Yet here we are, right? And here the industry still uses cork, because it works . . . It is still the best closure." Although alternative closures have gained traction in the past few decades, particularly in countries like Australia, they can't mimic the posi - tie attributes of cor in a way that any producers of fine wine accept. In fact, some regions out- right refuse to allow the use of closures other than cork. So, what exactly is the incentive to use cork? "Cork provides a better balance of oxidation and reduction in the finished wine," eplained tap. "Screwcaps tend to go really reductive; synthetic closures tend to go really oxidative. Cork is still the most balanced when it comes to preventing oxygen ingress." There's also something to be said for the attributes cork can impart on a wine while in bottle. "There are phenols in cork, just as there are phenols in oak and phenols in grapes," Stamp continued. "And those phenols over time interact with the wine, doing inter - esting things to tannin structure and polymerization. Something happens under cork that, quite simply, doesn't happen under other closures." To this point, Stamp raises his glass of '95 Ridge Monte Bello: a testament to how well cork pro - tects, and positively impacts, the evolution of a wine in bottle. Ridge Vineyards 1995 Monte Bello, California. Matt Stamp, MS, of Compline in Napa (representing APCOR, the Portuguese cork association).

• Cover