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Just a few comments, not directed at anyone in particular.

Natural corks have 2 problems:

Corking (TCA) is a from the sterilization process of the cork prior to bottling. Has very little to do with aging. A few months (in the supply chain) and it can ruin a wine. The only reason aging matters is that a ruined 1986 you've been babying for 15 years hurts a lot more to lose than the Beaujolais Nouveau you picked up yesterday.

A crumbled cork isn't "corking" but it can ruin a wine. As the article states, if it crumbles on removal the pieces can be fished or filtereed out without damaging the wine. But if it fails as a seal before its time, the wine will be ruined.

One of the issues with natural cork is its availability...the wine industry outside of Europe has boomed. 30 years ago, California produced much much less, the Aussies barely existed never mind the Chileans etc. The number of bottles corked each year has exploded. Note none of these areas are known for planting cork oak trees...most of it still comes from Portugal and parts of Spain. It takes about 10 years between harvests, and more than that before the first. Natural cork production has not come close to keeping up with the international growth of the wine industry. This leads to using smaller corks (1.5 inches vs 2.75 inches) and a general degradation of quality of the cork from more frequent than ideal harvests. I don't expect the percentage of TCA corked wines to increase, but I would bet that more and more naturally corked bottles will fail and crumble.

Quite simply, some type of alternative closure is a must...not for all wines, but at least for some. If more wine is sold in boxes (or more specifically, plastic bags inside boxes) and more wine is Stelvin (aka screw capped) than that would alleviate a lot of the pressure on natural cork. But something has to give. My own experiences with synthetic corks have been good; I've never had the breathing problems mentioned in the article, but I missed the whole first generation of synthetic corks. As with anything, expect the technology to improve. I expect that plastic bags, screw caps and synthetic corks all to grow as the sealing device for wines. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that in not too long, you'll commonly see single serving wines in something approaching a 16 oz soda bottle. And while Opus One won't ever be sold that way...it is a good thing that you'll be able to get a decent everyday wine for cheap.