It would appear that major Portuguese cork producer Amorim has rather selectively chosen from the results of research it sponsored in Germany and France to compare cork with ‘various (unnamed) synthetic stoppers, including a cork-based synthetic’ (also unnamed). According to Amorim’s research chief Professor Migual Cabral, ‘Some of the synthetic stoppers performed as well or better than natural and technical cork on some (unnamed) parameters, but their performance was not maintained under all conditions or they performed badly on other parameters.’ Some synthetic closures required twice the force of cork to extract from a bottle, while others (unnamed) showed losses of the preservative sulphur dioxide, suggesting that they were not as suitable for medium and long-term cellaring. More details in future, please.
