WTN: Alsatian Pinot Gris and question

I opened a 2012 Robert Klingenfus Alsatian Pinot Gris with quiche tonight and was pleased to see a Normacorc closure which was quite tight in the bottle. At least it will be quite sound, I thought. Not so fast. There was plenty of pear fruit there and just adequate acidity but the wine was obviously Maderized/Sherried. It had a deep straw color but not amber, which might have been my first clue for concern for a wine so young. Was this wine oxidized at bottling (surely not) or did the Normacorc fail? Inquiring minds want to know.

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds like cork failure or heat damage

For awhile, some Finger Lakes producers were using Normacorcs. I found that whites, even those with lots of acidity, to be oxidized/maderized, even after a couple years. Reds held up somewhat better, but in general, I think these closures are crap. I can't think of anyone there that still uses them (screwcaps are gaining popularity, still lots of regular cork).

Normacorcs are crap, do not buy those wines! My two cents.

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik l

Yes, I'd avoid Nomacorc for anything not drinking within year or two of release.
Sometimes hear reports of synthetic corks that are "better"- but we've all heard that before.

Plastic is not good for long term aging, but 4 years should be fine. I would suggest storage conditions are the most likely cause of the problem. FWIW I have never had a problem related to a plastic cork. Even a rosé that was several years old was holding up despite the fact that the cork had lost al its elasticity.

No problems with screwcaps either. Real corks on the other hand... my last corked bottle was 6 days ago.

I've had plenty of problems with plastic corks, but more with the old style hard ones than the co-extruded ones.
But even Nomacorc only claims up to 3 years on their economy cork and up to 5 on their "classic" , so for the sake of safety I basically don't cellar anything if I know it has plastic. I had a 2006 CRB last year that had survived despite closure, but that was an accident on my part.
But it could definitely also be storage