Posts Tagged“synthetic corks”

From the Archives: Some Finger Lakes Wineries Favor Synthetic Corks for Their Best Wines. Should They?

Editor’s Note: Every Thursday — call it Throwback Thursday if you’d like — we’ll pull a story from the more than a decade of NYCR stories and republish it. This week, I pulled a story that managing editor Evan Dawson and science editor Tom Mansell teamed up for about synthetic closures in the Finger Lakes.    Serious wine consumers are not, generally speaking, fans of synthetic cork. Most recoil at the sight of a plastic cork being pulled from a bottle they had otherwise been excited to open. Is this bias unfair? Maybe. Companies are working to improve the quality of synthetic…

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Some Finger Lakes Wineries Favor Synthetic Corks for Their Best Wines; Should They?

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor, and Tom Mansell, Science Editor Serious wine consumers are not, generally speaking, fans of synthetic cork. Most recoil at the sight of a plastic cork being pulled from a bottle they had otherwise been excited to open. Is this bias unfair? Maybe. Companies are working to improve the quality of synthetic corks. We'll get to that in a bit. But there's no denying that synthetic corks make a clear statement to the serious consumer, whether intended or not. "Cheap," said one of the many tasters on the evening of the recent Finger Lakes Riesling Hour.…

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Why I Hate Synthetic Corks (aka Bad Choices)

So I sat down last night to review a few different wines from Standing Stone Vineyards in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It’s a well-known producer and I’ve enjoyed both their dry vidal and vidal ice wine in the past. Then I opened my only bottle of their 2003 Pinot Noir ($26). As I slipped the capsule off, I was surprised to see a synthetic cork. In my experience, few wineries use them on a wine over $15 dollars — particularly not one that should have some cellar worthiness. So I extract the cork and pour… Something is…

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