Thanks for the grreeting Badthings - your information looks quite correct to me, and the Olympic size swimming pool analogy is spot-on as well. Here's another good analogy - a mere teaspoonful of TCA could contaminate every single bottle of wine for sale in the United States. Isn't THAT frightening? As for Bonny Doon, yes, Randall has always experimented with different closures over the years, and it is a fact that some of the "first generation" synthetic corks were not destined for long-term storage as it turned out, but give Randall his props, he is an iconoclast and innovator, and the neck-hangars on his Ca' Del Solo "Big House" White and Red wines are an instant education on the subject of Stel-Vin closures. Perhaps consumers rallying cry to reticent wineries should be, "Give us Stel-Vin or give us death!" I must say, that I practically lie awake at night fretting that a truly wonderful wine that I've sold to a less knowledgeable customer is going to be cork-tainted, and they, having no frame of reference for this, will simply assume either a) I've rooked them, b) I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, or c) that it is their own fault, that this type of wine doesn't appeal to them, therefore they won't try it again. Any way you look at it, a sad conclusion. For those wine consumers who are unsure about cork taint, here is something to remember: if it IS present in the bottle, it does NOT "blow-off" or go away with air. If you are ever uncertain, just wait - it only gets worse. Upon opening a bottle, it may be as strong as a punch in the nose, or it may be very faint. I am lucky to have tasted with a seriously wine-knowledgeable friend who is both extremely cork-taint sensitive as well as formally educated in biochemistry. (I joke that he can detect a cork-tainted bottle from two counties away) He often tastes in some of the best grower's cellars in Europe, and has detected cork-taint before the grower himself! He has shoved two glasses of the same wine from two different bottles under my nose and told me that one was corked and the other wasn't, and I couldn't tell which one it was until 20 minutes later - by then it was self-evident. I describe the odor as being akin to wet newspapers, or wet cardboard boxes. One other bit of wisdom to practice - if at all possible, after opening a bottle of wine, do NOT shove the cork back in the bottle upside-down. Always put it back in the way it was. For some reason, and I've witnessed this myself more than once, an otherwise good bottle can become cork-tained that way, EVEN IF THE WINE HAS NO PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE CORK! I know, I know, this sounds like so-much "hocus-pocus" but it is true, I've experienced it in the presence of other wine professionals. If anyone cares to enlighten me on how this is possible, please do. I'm no chemistry expert. Readers, please note: Cork-taint isn't the only bugaboo that fouls up otherwise good wines. Wines are living things, and they can develope other problems as well, from bretanomyces (sp?) to volatile acidity problems, over exposure to light, heat, vibration, etc... The motto we have in the wine business is, "There ARE no great wines, only great bottles", since bottle variation, personal mood, the food we're eating and any number of other environmental factors can change our perceptions of any given wine at any particular moment. Stel-Vin closures seem to me to be the best currently available method to level the playing field and eliminate at least one odious possibility from the wine experience.