Cork, Screwcaps, or Plastic? Author George Taber Talks Bottle Stoppers

Three decades ago, author and journalist George Taber turned the wine world on its head with his famous four paragraph Time magazine story on the Judgment of Paris. That story, often referred to as "the most significant news story ever written about wine" put California alongside the world's top wine regions and sparked a "who's better?" debate that rages to this day. Now Taber has turned his attention to the latest raging debate in the wine world: Corks. In his new book, To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle, Taber examines the past, present, and future of cork as it fends off the advances of alternative wine stoppers and divides an industry.

IW: Why this book now?

GT: It’s the hottest topic around among wine professionals, and opinions are held very strongly. Just last night in Stellenbosch, South Africa I had dinner with a top wine person and we discussed the issue for a large part of the meal. Many wineries are doing their own testing and may be changing. Everyone is thinking about it in some way.

IW: The failure rate for traditional corks ranges from 3-5%. With such an abysmal success rate, why do we even use cork?

GT: Cork has been used for a long time and still has a lot of loyal fans. Of course, it also has many ardent critics. I think it’s an old Greek saying that you shouldn’t be the last to take on the new or the first to discard the old. Many wine people have told me that they don’t want to make a rash decision because of still unknown things about screwcaps or other closures.