What is replacing natural cork for wine stoppers?

Plastic "corks" are replacing natural cork for wine stoppers. During the 1980s and early 1990s bad cork was traced to the fungal contaminant 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, TCA. TCA flattens the taste of the wine, removing the flavors the winemaker worked hard to produce. Additionally, the demand for wine in bottles has grown faster than the supply of cork from cork oaks. Although natural cork is still used for the best and most expensive wines-those that are aged for twenty or more years-plastic cork is becoming widely used at the lower end of the wine industry. Most plastic corks use a high-grade plastic that elminates taste and odor problems of contaminated natural cork.

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