Synthetic corks have been receiving a bad rap in recent years as their performance has not lived up to the hype. These corks were to replace natural corks in an attempt to reduce and eliminate the occurrence of TCA, or what is responsible for corked wine. However, except for very young wines meant to be drunk quickly, synthetic corks have fallen in favor to natural corks and screwcaps due to several problems.
First, synthetic corks have shown to have inconsistent oxygen transfer rates (OTR) compared to their counterparts particularly that some corks lost their elasticity and did not re-expand to their original shape. This caused some bottles to become prematurely oxidized and others to age at varying rates causing considerable bottle variations.
Second, the material used to manufacture synthetic corks was not completely inert, which imparted off-aromas to the wine.
Thirdly, consumers have been reporting having difficulty uncorking bottles; synthetic corks proved to be a challenge even for some of the best corkscrews.
But one evening, I was perplexed as I retrieved a synthetic cork from a bottle of fine white Burgundy. It was a bottle of 2007 Rully 1er Cru Rabource from Olivier Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet at $31 in Quebec (Canada)—not exactly what would be considered a cheap wine; actually, at that price, this would be considered a super-premium wine. And Olivier Leflaive is no producer to sneeze at.
The synthetic cork in this bottle was nothing like I had ever seen before. I thought I had seen them all: natural corks, screwcaps, synthetic corks, agglomerated, twin discs, Zork closures, and glass closures (e.g. Vino-Lok). But this one really caught my attention with its concentric-ring design, and after researching it, I found out that beta testing had been launched more than 10 years ago and that, since 2004, it has graced the bottles of many top producers in Europe, particularly Burgundy, and South Africa.
This synthetic cork—marketed under the name Guala Seal Elite—is the work of the Guala Seal Group, an Italian company specializing in all types of closures, and consists of three main components, best described by the Italian Wine News (http://www.winenews.it) website as: a (polypropylene) chassis, that guarantees elastic memory and the adherence of its mechanical properties; the body, with its properties that make it impermeable to gases (particularly oxygen); and a “shield”, which is in contact with the wine itself and protection against any interaction with other elements.
Ingenious design, but could this be the synthetic cork of the future? Time will tell as wineries start reporting test results. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping a nose on those Guala Sealed bottles.
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