The November 1992 instalment of this continuing series dealt with corks, and we'd like to thank those of you who responded to our inquiry about how you would react to a premium wine closed with something other than the traditional cork. The consensus seems to be that most customers wouldn't have a negative reaction to plastic stoppers or other cork substitutes as long as they were reasonably assured that the alternative closure would work as well as a good cork to protect the wine. Originally, the neck of the bottle was dipped in wax, and this practice continues with bottles containing vintage ports and other very special wines and spirits.
Capsules are a more convenient alternative.
Until very recently, capsules were usually made of lead, which provided a nice finish and appearance and very good protection for the cork. However, many wine-producing jurisdictions, including most of the EEC and the United States have now prohibited the use of lead capsules. Similar rulings are imminent in Canada, and most producers, in anticipation of the change, have now switched to alternative capsules. The loose capsules are placed on the top of the bottle and then shrunk onto the neck, one by one, with the application of heat. Our heat applicator looks like a heavy duty hair dryer, but larger bottling lines have heat tunnels through which the bottles pass.