Corkiness and soft corks

[Paul Wagner]

FYI. In regards to the original posted question, mold needs humidity to grow well. Most cork companies try to keep the moisture level in corks below 7.5%, to eliminate the potential for mold growth on the corks. But a moister cork is easier to insert into the bottle, so each winery has its own moisture specifications. If the Australian winery was having trouble with its bottling line, and increased the moisture content in the corks, it could have created more mold, and TCA.

On the other hand, Austrialians are very up to speed on this stuff--I was a speaker there once, and was very impressesed with their research and conclusions. It would surprise me to see an Aussie winery using wet corks.

But dry corks are also a problem. Below about 5.5%, they lose much of their plasticity, and won't work well in the bottling line nor with a cork puller. If you have been seeing wines with very dry corks, it is probably because the wineries is keeping moisture levels low to prevent TCA formation. This is another example of how important a good QC program is.

Paul Wagner