On Food and Cooking

the cell wall in cork is made up of suberin,
a complex waxy substance similar to the
cutin that coats many fruits, and this makes
cork water-resistant and long-lived.
Cork is a natural, organic material, and
as such can be infected by molds and
bacteria. Molds produce moldy, earthy,
mushroomy, and smoky smells. And
certain bacteria can act on phenolic
compounds in the cork and traces of
chlorine disinfectant to produce
trichloroanisole, an especially unpleasant
and potent molecule that smells like a dank
cellar. It’s estimated that cork taints spoil
from 1 to 5 percent of the wine bottles
stoppered with cork. The problem of
“corked” wine has led wine producers to
experiment with alternative stoppers,
including metal caps and stoppers made
from foamed plastic.
Bottle Aging After a period of a few months
to two years in barrels or tanks that allow