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Wine Industry Business Journalhttp://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/ © 2003 North Bay Business Journal BY JEFF QUACKENBUSH STAFF REPORTER NORTH COAST -- As news breaks of Jackson Wine Estates' decision to go all-screwcap with its Pepi brand [see "K-J's Pepi to use screwcaps" in this issue], cork producers are rolling out competing solutions to the cork taint conundrum. Amorim Cork America and Sabaté USA are bringing to market agglomerate cork closures put through different processes said to extract often-fingered cork taint culprit 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) from cork wood. The first shipments of closures put through Amorim's new process arrived in Napa in early February after the equipment was up and running in three of Amorim's four cork plants in November, according to Amorim Cork America general manager Daryl Eklund. Called Rosa, the process uses high-temperature pressurized water and steam to carry TCA out of the stoppers. Meanwhile, some 50 U.S. wineries are in the midst of trials of stoppers made of cork pieces treated with Sabaté's process, code-named Diamond. The process is claimed to extract TCA to levels undetectible by state-of-the-art equipment, according to Sabaté USA president and CEO Eric Mercier. The process uses supercritical carbon dioxide kept at 31 degrees Celsius and 94 bars of pressure to be part-gaseous for cork penetration and part-liquid for carrying away TCA. The same process is used to decaffeinate coffee and extract essential components for perfumes. Sabaté developed its technology with the French Atomic Energy Commission. In fact, use of identical technology in other industries is helping Sabaté bring several million of its Diamond-processed closures to market per month beginning in July. The limited-basis introduction is slated to start a year ahead of schedule. Last summer, Sabaté began discussions with a large European agribusiness company to treat the raw cork until the mid-2005 completion of Sabaté's $18.5 million treatment facility in Spain. Diamond-processed technical corks have been available for tests in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, and the company is already receiving orders in those markets. During outsourced treatment, the closures will cost small- to medium-size wineries an average of 15˘-17˘ apiece, Mr. Mercier predicts. Amorim likely will absorb much of the extra cost of Rosa processing because of the competitive technical cork market, Mr. Eklund says. No silver bullet The Rosa and Diamond processes are the latest innovations in the cork industry's campaign to regain customers who have been eschewing cork-based closures because of the taint issue. Amorim hasn't had taint-related claims against it. However, Sabaté seeks to strengthen customer trust through independent research, after being stung by highly publicized taint complaints with its Altec cork-synthetic hybrid agglomerate stopper -- 4.5 billion of which have been sold globally in its nine years on the market. Studies by the Australian Wine Research Institute and others over the past few years suggest nil taint problems after Diamond treatment. The research has convinced Alexander Valley's Hanna Winery to consider Diamond-processed technical closures in testing on technical and synthetic closure options for the 35,000-case estate winery's growing program with Sauvignon Blanc. Like other white wines, Sauvignon Blanc is more susceptable to TCA taint than bold reds are, according to winemaker Jeff Hinchliffe. The touted option of screwcap-like low permeability for the new Sabaté closures could be attractive for ensuring limited bottle-to-bottle wine variation, he adds. "There is no silver bullet for eliminating TCA," Mr. Eklund says. "It is happening through a combination of vertical integration, cleaner [cork] washing systems, and TCA reduction." Those steps have drastically reduced average levels of TCA in incoming technical corks to Amorim's Napa facility in the past three years to 1.28 parts per trillion, says Mr. Eklund. Trained noses can detect concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion. However, any detectible TCA is too much for Jackson Wine Estates, according to Chuck Shea, vice president of production. The vintner recently acquired a $100,000 gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy system that can detect fractions of a part per trillion of TCA. Jackson Wine Estates uses the machine to screen each bale of corks from its suppliers -- Amorim, Cork Supply USA, and Portocork.
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