Cork taint-related complaints to UK retailers are falling, but there is still no room for complacency, an LIWSF seminar on closures was told. Addressing the Oeneo-sponsored Closure Debate: What the Retailers Say, Tesco wine technologist Andy Gale said wine-related complaints to the retailer had fallen from a high of 8% six years ago, to around 3% now. Gale added that the supermarket was still aiming to have 50% of its overall wine range under screwcap and was "probably close" to that figure now. The seminar also heard evidence from a study which assessed the carbon footprint associated with the manufacture of the company's natural cork, as well as DIAM and screwcap closures. This suggested that screwcap manufacture generated more than four time the carbon emissions of natural cork production.
