Corkiness and soft corks

[Tari Di Bello]

foodie
Wineboy here, Tari is just a used to be winemaker, and now she's to busy dying her roots to answer you. For that matter so am I. There is a long and complex set of something like 13 grades of corks, which I've done a very good job of forgetting. On top of that every company uses different terminology to grade. I,m going to do this quickly, when there is more time I'll try to get the whole schlamole for you.
Basically the fewer holes and least wood win. You don't want cracks, it's getting to the point where you don't want them over a 1/4" long and I'm seeing these in some very expensive corks. You want good elasticity and memory. A good way to check elasticity is the dreaded chew test, yummers. Yes, some of the best in the business resort to eating corks. It is also nice to have a moisture meter, you want the corks humidity to be between 5-8%.
It seems to me the high end cork of today looks worse than the medium range of 10 years ago at 10 times the price. Sometimes there are no corks I'm happy with or not enough of them.
Now, Mr. foodie your magic word for the day is patience.