Corkiness and soft corks

[Thomas]

Randy,

A "dirty" cork is not what causes corkiness in wine. Under suspicion for tainted cork is chemical reactions during sanitation at the manufacturer. The quality of the cork material has little to do with the problem, and since tainted corks are believed to get that way before they reach the winery, the producer usually has no control over the problem.

You can't see a tainted cork amidst the thousands of untainted corks that run through the bottling line.