Corking honeywine: natural or synthetic?
Garth Cambray
The pop of a cork being removed from a bottle is an important part of the
psychological preparation for consuming the contents of the bottle. The pop is
classy, romantic and traditional, well, some believe it so. These are all subjective words, hence the
debate surrounding corks in wine bottles is as subjective as it is scientific.
Various factions support ‘natural’ corks, synthetic corks and screw cap
closures. But what of mead??
Mead is the Cinderella of the fermented beverage world. Made from honey by
most ancient peoples, mead is currently only consumed in large volumes in
Africa. The decline in consumption of mead globally has been attributed to the
high price of honey for the last 1000 years. But the trend is changing with a
small mead industry now existing in countries outside Africa and currently
growing at 12% per annum. If the trend continues, it means that soon, mead
makers world wide will be at the same cross roads as wine makers – to cork it
or cap it?
At Makana Meadery in South Africa scientists were confronted with this issue
in a rather serious fashion. A bottle of their ‘iQhilika – African Mead’
found its way to the Director of Biotechnology Development in the Department of
Science and Technology who called company director Garth Cambray to say that
when he opened his mead a fungus was growing on the cork. Surprised, the
team decorked their entire stock of mead to find 28% of bottles to have a
darkening of the natural corks used as closures. These bottles had a harsh taste
not encountered in bottles without darkened corks. Closer inspection showed
limited growth of a fungus in all corks – an entirely unacceptable situation,
but the beginning of some serious research into the best corking solution for
mead.
No data exists on the ideal closure for mead, but their experiences strongly
suggested that a ‘natural’ cork was not the ideal closure. A natural cork is
regarded as the best stopper for retarding the passage of oxygen past the cork.
This ensures that the contents of the bottle have limited contact with the
atmosphere – which is very important for wine. Mead however does not oxidise
easily. A bottle of mead will last in a fridge after opening for at least two
years. A bottle of wine will last for two days at the maximum. Hence it is
logical to assume that the passage of a small amount of oxygen past a mead cork
will be less serious for the contents of a bottle of mead than for a bottle of
wine.
A good natural cork will last for 30-40 years if well cared for. A synthetic
cork could probably last much longer. Given that the polymers from which these
corks are made have been invented only in the last 30-40 years it is difficult
to base this prediction on fact, but theoretical chemical predictions would
suggest that certain synthetic corks will last for longer then 40 years without
major loss in structure.
Mead has a long maturation curve and it is believed that many meads mature or
peak at 25-30 years of age – if a cork which fails at that age is used, it is
possible that using a natural cork to stopper a bottle of mead could be
preparing the consumer for a disappointment.
Cambray's research at Makana Meadery has shown that a synthetic cork
manufactured by a Cape Town based company, provides an excellent stopper for
mead. Bottles corked with these closures tasted better than bottles corked with
natural closures. No fungal growth was detected on the corks. The team surmised
that the bottles were less likely to have problems with microbial contamination
than their naturally stoppered peers.
Expanding the research - the mead stopper experiment
To provide a broader understanding of the effect of different stoppers on
mead maturation, Makana Meadery, in collaboration with the Rhodes University
Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology would like to appeal
to mead manufacturers to take part in a stopper experiment. Makana Meadery will
send a sample of Classic Clossures corks to a participating commercial Meadery.
The Meadery can then cork three bottles of mead with natural corks and three
with the provided synthetic corks. Three bottles is the minimum requirement to
achieve a statistically relevant result. The mead can then be returned to Makana
Meadery, where it will be chemically analysed to determine if a difference
exists between natural and synthetic closures in mead bottling. Participants
will be provided with a confidential analysis of their mead.
More information:
garth@iqhilika.co.za
Garth Cambray
Makana Meadery
27(0)833190369
Fax 27(0)466223984
www.iqhilika.co.za
- 'A friend in mead is a friend indeed' R.Freeman & C.Scott
- Ethiopians consume 170 million litres of Tej (mead) and Zambians
110 million litres of light mead each year.
Related articles:
 iQhilika
- African Mead
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