Why the snobbery over corks?

A scientist might talk about the explosive pop of a wine cork in terms of pressure or elasticity.

But for wine lovers, the distinctive creak and pop means something good is happening. It triggers associations - social intimacy, relaxation, nuanced aromas, celebration - that go far beyond just a slug of alcohol.

The unveiling this week of a new style of cork raises the question of why the traditional kind continues to dominate much of the wine world.

The Helix is opened with just a twist of the hand. No corkscrew is necessary as the top of the bottle has a thread inside.

The glass bottle and cork combination for wine is thought to have started in the 17th Century. But newer materials exist today that some argue are better suited for sealing a bottle than cork.

Screw caps and plastic corks have been embraced by producers fed up with wine becoming "corked" - the unpleasant musty taste, likened to wet dog, which is caused by tainted cork.

Influential US wine critic Robert Parker reckons that during the mid 1990s 7-10% of the wine he tasted was corked. In 2004 he predicted that by 2015 screw caps would dominate the wine industry.

"I'm not remotely embarrassed about opening up a screw cap in front of guests. Why should anyone be ashamed of demonstrating that they really cared for their pleasure in the wine?"

But for the ordinary drinker, cultural expectations - wine snobbery even - might be at play.

It might help to explain why large bottling firm O-I and cork giant Amorim would produce a handscrew cork. After all, the screw cap already exists. The firms cite market research showing that 94% of consumers in the US and 90% in France prefer cork stoppers.

The new cork is similar to those found in whisky or sherry bottles, except without the plastic layer on top.

O-I's European chief executive Eric Bouts says it is aimed at wines in the ￡5-10 ($8-15) market. Customers on a picnic won't need to hunt around for a corkscrew.

The cork fits snuggly back into the bottle unlike plastic stoppers or tougher less spongy corks. But connoisseurs will know that the only way of keeping wine drinkable for the following day is to vacuum pump it.

The makers of the Helix say it will be in European shops within two years, but also hope to grab a piece of the fast growing Chinese market, which has overtaken the UK to become the world's fifth biggest.

The more money you spend, the more ritual you want for your buck. That includes a corkscrew, he believes. "If I was to go out and spend 40 or 50 quid on a nice bottle of Pomerol or St Emilion I'd feel I'd been robbed if I opened it the same way I open a bottle of Coke. The crack of a screw top is not the same as the pop of a wine cork."

The cork has one other trump card. Unlike Stelvins, it grows on trees. It fits with wine's earthiness, of no two bottles being quite the same. The French use the word "terroir" to sum up this almost spiritual sense of local distinctiveness.

Shawn and Natalia Hantke didn’t know any of this was happening when they watched their daughter Polina try — but fail — to stand up in her crib. It was May 2010, and the 9-month-old girl would grip the top of the crib in their Deadwood home. She’d rise up and then she’d quit and lower herself back down to her knees.

Other puzzlements followed. There was the dime-sized lump in her armpit. And Polina’s habit of using her arms to push around her left leg as she took a bath. Then that same leg fell limp “like Jello” when the couple tried to dress her, according to Shawn.

The Hantkes brought up their worries during several doctor visits that year. Nobody could say what was wrong. Their doctor referred the Hantkes to a pediatrician, who referred them to an orthopedic surgeon, who referred them to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

By the time the doctors slid Polina into a MRI machine in Denver in March 2011, it had been nine months since her parents first noticed the symptoms. She was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that primarily affects infants and toddlers. Because it mimics the symptoms of more ordinary illnesses, neuroblastoma is usually found only after it has spread.

As Polina entered what would become months of chemotherapy and other treatments, and her parents split time traveling back and forth to Denver to be closer to the hospital, the Hantkes realized their lives would be forever changed. But even with that realization, numerous questions still linger — the same unknowns that plague any family undergoing the devastation, and rare moments of hope, of trying to save a child with an aggressive cancer.Read the full story at www.smartcardfactory.com!