The most pressing technical issue for the wine industry today is closure quality control. Accordingly, the 28th annual conference of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Eastern Section, which focused on wine closures, was relevant to wine producers anywhere. Roland Riesen, enologist at Youngstown State University in Ohio and chair of the conference, explained "Too much anecdotal evidence in the industry is taken as fact, without conducting thorough and scientifically significant trials, or knowing how to do them. Therefore, we had presentations by scientists with hard data on various closure options. I was interested in facts."

The conference sought to examine closures from all angles: through technical studies, consumer studies, taste tests, winery experience and cost analysis. Speakers included academic researchers, private consultants to the beverage industry, winemakers and suppliers. Seminar highlights in this paper include: “Progress against Cork Taint: Origins of TCA in Natural Corks" presented by Peter Weber, President, Cork Quality Council; “Natural and Alternative Closures: Winemaker's Concerns," presented by Ken Fugelsang, Fresno State University, California; "Assessment of the Performance of Various Types of Wine Bottle Closures during Storage of White Wine-Results to 3 Years Post-Bottling", presented by Leigh Francis of the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide; “Origins of Chloroanisoles in Wine”, presented by Ken Fugelsang of Fresno State University; "How the Consumer Determines a Good Cork-Survey Results" presented by Peter Weber of the Cork Quality Council; and "The Crystal Ball: Wine Bottle Closures in 2020," featuring a panel of speakers on trends in wine closures. The unabridged conference report, first published in Vineyard & Winery Management.