WTN: How synthetic cork spoils a nice white Mâcon.

Viré-Clessé « L’Épinet » 2005 – Régine & Jean Rijckaert – Alc. 13%.
I was hoping to post on this bottle in Wine Focus and to expand on the excellence being achieved by some producers in the Mâconnais but instead it will be a mini-tirade against synthetic corks.

I was expecting something like my note on the same wine from January 2009 or even better with the extra bottle age –
Viré-Clessé « L’Épinet » 2005 – Régine & Jean Rijckaert – went beautifully with sea bass showing bright minerality, some citrus fruit, good depth and none of those slight caramel notes (probably from 25% new wood) which mar some of their wines; it has the potential to develop some extra complexity like the 2002s which I tasted recently but will it, in view of the Nomacorc which Rijckaert is, IMHO, misguidedly using? 15.5/20+++.

My forebodings about the Nomacorc were spot on. The nose now showed some cabbage with a dash of sherry and, although minerality was still present, the palate seemed thinner, shallower and altogether less interesting than before; just drinkable but hardly sniffable; 14/20.

Rijckaert is now bottling some cuvées under screwcap for the UK and US markets but they are not available here. I will buy no more from him unless I am sure that it is under natural cork or screwcap. The trouble is that simple inspection of the bottle does not reveal whether the stopper is natural or synthetic.

Bummer! I have never seen a plastic cork do the job for more than two years...

Tim,
My condolences. Have you communicated your experiences to M. Rijckaert? It's important, I think, for producers and importers to get this message.

Mark Lipton

There should be a warning on bottles with these damned hard rubber atrocities!!!

There should be a warning on bottles with these damned hard rubber atrocities!!!

Actually, Nomacorc would be more like a soft rubber atrocity - of the extruded variety, a soft foam core in a slippery jacket.

Bummer! I have never seen a plastic cork do the job for more than two years...

I don't think there's really a safe amount of time under plactic cork any more than there is a safe amount of tobacco smoking you can do. I had the opportunity some years ago to participate in a blind A-B testing of a white wine that had been under natural cork and Nomacorc for only six months and the differences were already apparent. The wine was not so damaged at that point that it would have been obvious without the "control" sample to compare it to but it was clear the plastic cork had deleterious effects that started immediately.

I think the problem with Normacork type closures is that their sealing is unpredictable. Some wines are ruined in one year, others last for >5. Tonight I am drinking an '05 Treleaven Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes that is excellent, not showing undue oxidation at all. The reason I pulled it was a thread like this one reminding me that I had some older wines with synthetic closures. This isn't the only oldish wine that has been OK under synthetic, but I'll take corks or screwcaps.