Taber George M - To Cork or Not to Cork

Praise for
To Cork or Not To Cork

Taber brings human interest to what many consider a scientific subject. A lively read that will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered how the cork issue became the top wine controversy of the decade.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Filled with zippy writing, intriguing facts and impeccable research, adding up to a fast-moving, fun tale that even beer or spirits drinkers could appreciate.

Barrons

No matter where you stand on the great debate over corkslove em, hate em, or still undecidedTo Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle by George M. Taber, gives the subject a timely and thorough examination. Taber is a good storyteller and the book reads and flows easily.

Wine Spectator Online

Taber has a knack for taking an arcane wine subject and, through investigative reporting and finely honed writing, make it come alive with personality and drama.

The Sacramento Bee

Unexpectedly fascinating, this history of wine corks may sound like a book only an oenophile could love, but Tabers zingy writing and juicy anecdotes make it a genuine page-turner, even for those who prefer wine coolers to wine lists. If it seems strange to harbor such passion about cork, Taber, a respected wine journalist, will do much to change your mind.

Publishers Weekly

In To Cork or Not To Cork, Mr. Taber does an able job of telling the story of the cork industrys early history, its rise to global monopoly status and the recent search for alternatives.

The Wall Street Journal

To Cork or Not To Cork reads like a novel. While the book contains some scientific terminology and at times appears to be highly technical, even a non-scientist can understand it, and its an easy and fascinating read.

Napa Valley Register

Fascinating This discussion not only is relevant to todays wine producers and enthusiasts but will continue to stimulate interest until the perfect bottle closure is developed. Highly recommended, especially in wine-producing and -consuming areas.

Library Journal (starred review)

A LSO BY G EORGE M. T ABER

Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976
Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine
In Search of Bacchus:
Wanderings in the Wonderful World of Wine Tourism

Tradition, Romance, Science,
and the Battle for the Wine Bottle

GEORGE M. TABER

SCRIBNER
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Copyright 2007 by George M. Taber

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Scribner trade paperback edition December 2009

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DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2007299750

ISBN 978-0-7432-9934-3
ISBN 978-0-7432-9935-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4165-7149-0 (ebook)

PHOTO CREDITS
p. : Photo courtesy of Penfolds

I have to admit that when George Taber asked me to write this foreword, I thought: a whole book dedicated to cork? But then, I knew cork to be genuinely amazing: what could compare with a substance that contains roughly 200 million fourteen-sided air-filled cells in just a one-inch cube of the stuff? What other common material is lighter than water, virtually impervious to air, difficult to burn, resistant to rot, and so elastic it can snap back into shape after withstanding 14,000 pounds of pressure per cubic inch? Indeed, cork is rather miraculous.

What I didnt know was the centuries-long story behind cork. And who better to tell it than George Taber whose skillful, incisive reporting thirty years ago exposed the behind-the-scenes story of the so-called Paris Tasting? That legendary tasting, which made global headlines and changed forever the course of the California wine industry in the process, became the basis of Georges seminal book Judgment of Paris. To Cork or Not To Cork is his next big achievement.

Part good storytelling, part investigative journalism, this new book is George at his best. Maybe its one wine womans passion for the subject, but I was glued by the intrigue, complexity, and drama of an untold story that has literally been under our noses for two centuries. Along the way George gives us fascinating I didnt know that! moments that keep the book lively.

In the end, I am a researcher who loves the fine details of wine. And so it is that Georges new book was something I could not put down. On last count, Ive pulled (sometimes struggled to pull!) 90,000 corks. After reading this book, every one of those thwocks took on new meaning.

TO CORK OR NOT TO CORK

The David Bruce Winery has long made one of Americas most prestigious Chardonnays. Founder David Bruce, a California wine pioneer, was originally trained as a medical doctor with a specialty in dermatology. His real passion, though, was making wine, and for years after starting his own winery in 1961 he practiced medicine by day so that by night and on weekends he could make wine. He only retired from medicine and became a full-time winemaker in 1985. Bruces vineyards are in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco. Early on, he became convinced that his cool, western side of the mountain range facing the Pacific Ocean was ideally suited to making wines in the style of Burgundyfruity Chardonnays and elegant Pinot Noirs that reach their peak after five or six years. Paul Masson, one of the first winemakers in the area, called it the Chane dOr because of the similarity he saw to Burgundys C te dOr, where Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs excel. Bruce in the 1980s easily sold out his annual production of some twenty thousand cases of Chardonnay and an additional ten thousand of Pinot Noir and regularly won awards for both wines.

In the fall of 1987, Bruce was about to begin the harvest when he started getting reports from his distributor, the San Francisco Wine Exchange, that stores were returning an unusually high number of Chardonnay bottles with complaints that the wine had cork taint. As a winemaker for more than two decades, Bruce was familiar with the problem of random bottles acquiring a musty odor resembling wet newspapers or moldy cardboard. At the time, winemakers and wine drinkers considered getting a corked bottle just a minor annoyance in a field they loved. Bruce, along with other winemakers around the world, didnt know what caused taint or whether anything could be done to stop it. Since they felt helpless, they just lived with the problem and made few attempts to control the quality of their cork.