The Auswine Forum

Not really, but a group of us got a surprise when we opened a 2007 Oliver Laflaive Puligny Montrachet a couple of days ago. The 'Guala Seal Elite' synthetic cork was nothing like we've ever seen and frankly looked like, you know...





The majority of the cork is like a soft, rubbery plastic material while the coloured 'ring' visible at the top is a harder material we assumed would be to stop the cork breaking/tearing up when extracted with a corkscrew. The tapered bottom is a clear plastic material - the whole thing has a weird appearance, like if you push what looks like the 'button' at the top maybe a light would go off in the base!!!

Does anyone know much about this seal - are there supposed to be any real advantages over traditional synthetic corks/zorks, and is anyone in Australia using/trialling them?

Cheers,
Ian

Ps. The Leflaive by the way was excellent.

EDIT: Guala website looks to have disappeared - new photos found

I hear they're pretty hopeless as tampons.

I came across one of these recently and I can't say I'd want it in either a bottle of wine OR up my.......never mind...

Hideously ugly and why don't they (deluded Euro producers hanging onto worn out tradition) just sucumb to the inevitable and USE STELVIN!

The only wine it would be appropriate to see it in would be a bottle of $2 chuck labelled 'PMT Panacea' - proposed label graphics welcome unless Gavin decides the topic would be in appallingly bad taste.

Why would the French be using such closures?

Surely they don't have cork taint do they? They never had cork taint when I've had corked bottles of Bordeaux in the past!!!

I still had a handful of corked 82, 83 and 86 second and third growths in my cellar until a recent clean out committed the contents to the sink and the bottles to recycling. I could never get them replaced and hung onto them for unknown reasons. Probably because they were the only Bordeaux left in my cellar once my collection went to auction to fund my divorce

It's hard to figure out the French.

They don't seem to do much these days. Apart from making the best sparkling (Champagne), the best Bordeaux blends (Bordeaux), the best Syrah (northern Rhones like Hermitage, Cornas, etc), the best Grenache (Chateauneuf du Pape), and possibly the best Pinot Noir (Burgundy). Of course they were right about Iraq. Then again they don't seem to blindly follow the leader.

Cheers.....................Mahmoud.