Plastic Cork Makers Fight Wine Tradition

Wine lovers may sniff at the idea of plastic corks in their favorite chardonnay, but the plugs produced by a Seattle-area company are used by 100 wineries around the world.

Supreme Corq. Inc. of Kent, Wash., founded in 1992, is one of three manufacturers worldwide trying to buck tradition, which holds that bottles of fine wines must be stoppered by cork from the bark of trees grown in Spain, Portugal or northern Africa.

The company’s corks, made of the same high-quality plastic used in artificial heart valves, can be tinted to look like the real thing. But the brightly colored versions, in shades like denim, forest green and cabernet (a light red), are more popular.

“The coloring of the cork has really become a packaging item,” said company President Jerry Zech. “The public likes the idea that you’re not trying to look like a fake cork.”

One California winery, Murphy-Goode Estate Winery, uses purple plastic corks to match its label.

Although purists may prefer natural corks, they are increasingly expensive and vary in quality.

Poor-quality corks can crumble or permit leaks, and bacteria called trichloroanisole in a cork can ruin the wine, giving it an unpleasant, musty odor similar to the smell of dirty sweat socks.

Such “corked” wine may cost wineries as much as $3 billion a year worldwide.

“The main advantage [of plastic corks] is that you can guarantee the quality of the wine in the bottle, which you can’t do with a natural cork,” said Chris Benz, a winemaker with Murphy-Goode.

Declasse jug wines with screw tops have made Supreme Corq’s road to acceptance just that much bumpier, however. “Tradition always comes up,” Zech said. “But, in my view, tradition is more an issue with wineries than it is with the consumer. . . . Ninety-plus percent of consumers are saying, ‘Bring it on.’ ”

The jury is still out, however, on the question of whether a fine wine needs to “breathe” through a natural cork as it ages. Some wineries reportedly are doing their own tests, the results of which will not be known for up to a decade.

Supreme Corq’s corks cost 10 to 14 cents each, depending on the size of the order, the color and whether they include printing.