The bottleneck/cork interface: a key parameter in bottle-aging of wine

Abstract

A study of changes in oxygen transfer through micro-agglomerated corks was carried out over 24 months under controlled storage conditions (Chanut et al., 2023a). This work demonstrated that the glass/cork interface can represent a major entry route for oxygen into wine bottles. It also showed that there is no difference in oxygen transfer at 20°C between bottles stored horizontally and vertically. However, high storage temperature greatly increases oxygen transfer at the interface between the cork and the bottleneck.