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The so-called cork taint is one of the most feared phenomena by wine producers around the world. In a not too distant future, however, it could be just a bad memory and we'll avoid that akward moment of sending back the bottle at a restaurant because "The wine is spoiled."
That's because scientists in Italy have developed a patented process to avoid cork taint by decontaminating cork closures. The research that led to this discovery was conducted by packaging company Brentapack and the Department of Physics at the University of Trento.
The research, begun as early as 2013, has studied how to sanitize the cap and eliminate the risk of being attacked by trichloroanisole. This compound is, in fact, responsible for "cork taint."
The first phase of the project has just been completed with encouraging results: the TCA is significantly reduced. Now researchers will try to eliminate cork taint completely by running a pilot program. Fingers crossed it will work and we'll be able to avoid cork taint forever.
