So Ladies and Gentlemen, the plot is thickening steadily!
Yesterday, I had a conversation with a winery owner who had to trash half a bottling run (!Sob!) because it was ‘corked.’ And of course he has bottled nothing but screwtop for years.
The wine was bottled in two batches. The first half, the 8 to 10 AM run was fine. The second half, the 10.30 to 12.30 run was corked: So how did this happen?
Well after much looking and head scratching, the difference was the bottling company: They “cleaned” the line between 10 and 10.30. This unfortunately included changing the filter.
For those of you who remember the good old days of carbeurators will remember the air filter, a pleated paper cylinder capped at each end with a plastic disc. These are still the most common types of filters in a billion different industries.
TCA (and it’s less well known cousin TBA) is quite happy in ANY cellulose product. Cardboard, paper, barrels, wood racks, you name it and TCA/TBA loves it. It turns out the paper filter in this case was the guilty party.
Who would have thought being assiduous about hygiene (cleaning the line, changing the filter) would result in losing a year’s profit and then some?
(and thanks to @ForgottenGrapes for the headline… Great pun!)