Corked wines

[Scoop]

Perhaps I'm just on an unlucky streak, but lately I've experienced an alarming increase in corked wines. Most of these bottles came from abroad (Loire, Stellenbosch, Rioja), however, where openness to the new synthetic cork technologies is probably much lower than in the US.

With that, 1) are any of you having the same problem with corked bottles; 2)are synthetic corks the answer,particularly as regards cellaring long-lived wines; and 3)is there any hope of convincing "Old World" producer to accept,over time, new materials?

Cheers,

CM