Microorganisms produce secondary metabolites like trichloroanisole (2,4,6-TCA), but also other unpleasant substances, which cause the typical “cork taint” in wine. This has led to serious problems for the cork industry in recent years and market share of cork stoppers decreased continuously. Conventional processes to reduce TCA content were only partly successful. Therefore a research program was started using supercritical CO2 in order to reduce the TCA content below the detectable limit.
