RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Kinetics of Oxygen Ingress into Wine Bottles Closed with Natural Cork Stoppers of Different Qualities JF American Journal of Enology and Viticulture JO Am. J. Enol. Vitic. FD American Society for Enology and Viticulture SP 395 OP 399 DO 10.5344/ajev.2013.13009 VO 64 IS 3 A1 Vanda Oliveira A1 Paulo Lopes A1 Miguel Cabral A1 Helena Pereira YR 2013 UL http://www.ajevonline.org/content/64/3/395.abstract AB The kinetics of oxygen ingress into bottles closed with natural cork stoppers was investigated by a nondestructive colorimetric measurement method using the oxidation of an indigo carmine solution. In order to encompass the natural variability of cork regarding its oxygen ingress into the bottle, 600 natural cork stoppers from different quality classes and produced from cork planks of different calipers were analyzed. The kinetics of oxygen transfer was similar in all cases and could be adjusted to logarithmic models. A significant variability was found for oxygen ingress into the bottles closed with natural cork stoppers: ingress at 12 months ranged from 0.3 to 4.8 mg; 21% of the stoppers reached the limit of oxygen quantification along the experiment. The results suggest that the variation of oxygen ingress is a consequence of the natural differing features in the cell dimensions and air volume within the stopper’s structure.