Bad corks are more frequent from Spanish producers?

In the WS forum a member (with the R2-D2 nick) wrote this recently: ";I am looking forward to 2001 Spanish wines hitting the market. The only factor that may or may not keep me from spending heavily is the really crappy corks that Spanish producers continue to use. Seepage and corked wines are a BIG problem for me when they hit the States.";

Do you think that Spanish producers use worst corks than another producers from the rest of the world? It is the first time I read about this. In my experience (and online readings) the worst fame about the quality of the corks is from German and Austrian producers.

There are known exceptions :), I haven’t had any problems with corks in this last year and most of the wines I’ve drunk are spanish for obvious reasons (they tend to be more easily found:^). Sure they don’t travel as much as R2-D2 ones but corks from aged wines were rock solid too.
That’s just my experience though :).

Cheers,
a.

I count R2 as one of the most Spanish-knowledgeable Chicago members at WS (and that’s quite a bit) and he’s certainly not alone in his complaints. If you conduct a search for ";cork"; in Squires or WS you’ll find LOTS of complaints about the quality of corks in Spanish wines, most notably in Alejandro Fernández’s.
Since it’s obvious that we don’t find as many problems the key element seems to be transatlantic trips and/or storage (on either shore).
But let me tell you THIS is a very important issue that’s affecting the image of Spanish wine abroad. And WE are suppossed to have the best corks available...

As I said before, is this a problem afecting a few wineries most of the time, or it’s extended to all spanish ones?
May be it isn’t a cork quality problem but a shipment one? All in all, I wasn’t aware of this problem.
a.

I bet the overseas shipping and dock storage put an extra stress on those corks but I also believe the American consumer is generally unaware of these circumstances and in any case he/she doesn’t need sad stories but rather sound corks.
In the case of Rick at WS he sure means ";Hey, I’m a buyer of topnotch Priorats and Riberas, and these are not $18 bottles. I must be reassured of the soundness of these corks if I’m going to invest large sums of money in this 2001 vintage, and then hold these wines for a long term";.
And this issue has been around for as long as I’ve been peeping abroad (late 2001)...

Can the ";travel stress"; boost the TCA perception?

TAR,

Jose

Actually I was referring to heat/drying/seepage. No clue about TCA, and in fact I have no reason whatsoever to believe it. You know I have been ";importing wines by hnd"; all my (drinking) life, and there’s nothing I’ve found to support that thesis (thank Heaven!) ;^)

http://forums.winespectator.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=9306023451&f=6826053161&m=1776015161&r=7876015161#7876015161

http://fora.erobertparker.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=020694#000000

http://fora.erobertparker.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=018952#000002

http://fora.erobertparker.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=024447