On Oct 29, 10:11*am, "James Silverton" >
wrote:
> *Mark *wrote *on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:56:29 -0400:
>
> >> surprised by the tannins, but those early synthetic corks had
> >> about a 90% mortality rate after 4 o 5 years, much less
> >> decade+ Supposedly some are supposed to be better now, but I
> >> generally regard syn-corks as sign to drink with 2-3 years
> > My thoughts perzackly, Dale. *My experience with aging wines
> > sealed with fake corks is "dead on arrival." *In fact, one of my very
> > early posts to *AFW was about a '96 Siduri PN that was
> > absolutely dead when opened in '99 or '00. *I was too new to
> > the phenomenon then to recognize it for what it was, but I
> > have studiously avoided aging any wines sealed under fake cork
> > for the last 5 years at least. *Reduction be damned: bring on the
> > screwcaps!
>
> For my education, are "synthetic" corks those ribbed plastic stoppers
> (polyethylene, I think) or those apparently composed of ground up cork
> bound by some sort of plastic? I don't think I've seen either lately in
> the younger wines that I drink day to day, tho' neither worked very
> well, IMO.
>
> --
>
> James Silverton
> Potomac, Maryland
>
> Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

This "cork" was a somewhat soft plastic "plug" the size and shape of a
cork but the material was slightly pliable and it slid out of the
bottle with little resistance. It was actually slightly porous and
had absorbed quite a bit of color.