高普考/三四等/高員級◆英文題庫下載題庫

       Have you ever been troubled by the question of whether to buy a wine with a cork  or a screw top? In fact, the way to seal wines is also a tough problem for the wineries. 

       The root of the problem lies in “cork taint.” When some wine is sealed with a bad cork, there will be cork taint. Corks are made from a special oak tree growing around the Mediterranean. In the process of making corks and sealing wine bottles, a certain type of mold may start to grow in some corks. Over time, this mold may make the wine taste musty. Since cork taint affects one out of every ten bottles of wine, no packaging industry in the world would put up with such a high rate of failure. 

       Some wine makers try to solve the problem by sealing bottles with screw tops. However, many wineries are still playing it safe and sticking to corks for two reasons. First, cork users believe a small amount of oxygen is able to penetrate corks, not screw tops, and the oxygen is necessary for the proper aging of fine wines. The other problem arises from the image screw tops have with the public. In most people’s minds, screw tops are only found on cheap, low-quality wines. In addition, there is the problem of losing the romantic mood produced by the popping of the cork. 

       For the reasons above, it will take a lot of efforts for wineries to re-educate the public if they want to change the habit of the public.