We offer a natural cork based product for wine at every price point.

The corks that we offer are listed below.

If you are not convinced yet to use a cork instead of a synthetic cork, a glass stopper, or a screw cap on your wine, please read below to hear our side of the argument.

Did you know that to make one ton of aluminum for screw caps, you make FOUR tons of carbon? Talk about a carbon footprint! Natural wine corks require the least amount of energy to manufacture.

Have you read that synthetic closures leak the most sulphur out, the most oxygen in? The low price argument is now won by our Nuetrocork. We offer this new, micro- agglomerated cork which is made from small bits of treated cork and bonded with a food grade polymer. These offer one half the extraction force of synthetics, reinsertion, and an even better price than synthetics.

The glass stopper is a really neat idea. If you are one of the top 100 sized wineries in the U.S., the people who sell it probably are willing to talk to you. 

Cork is natural, renewable, and recyclable. Some people still think they have to kill the tree to harvest cork. Not true. The bark is shaved roughly every nine years. Cork forests represent a partnership with nature and an ecology that removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Cork stoppers for wine are preferred by the majority of manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, and consumers.

Consumers are the reason why the wine still comes in a bottle. As a startup, small, or medium- sized winery, from outside California, can you afford to gamble on low- buck packaging? Isn't it hard enough to get people to buy wine from somewhere besides California? Why take the risk? Unless the wine costs under $7.00, people expect a cork. And even when it is a low priced wine, we sell something that looks like cork.

History

Since Dom Perignon started using cork in the 1600's, the tradition of using cork as a wine stopper has been strong. Cork's position as the closure of choice in wine was largely unthreatened until the identification of TCA in modern wines. Never mind that TCA is an unharmful (offensive to the nose and capable of spoiling a wine, but unharmful) compound. Cork was demonized and the witch hunt began.

Cork bore the brunt for the ensuing years, but stayed the course as it was discovered that TCA came from floor drains, wooden beams, dehumidifiers, and any other place where dirt, natural fiber, moisture, the ensuing mold population and chlorine had met. It seems that chlorine is a key component and all but the maverick or the uninformed have barred chlorine from the winery. Chlorine has been barred from breweries for the same reason. And they don't use corks!

"Corked" has become a household name for any wine that is "off" or spoiled. The cork is not always to blame. TCA can come into the wine in the winery the same as VA and Brett, but the consumer still says, "Corked". The truth is that TCA elimination in 2007 is as advanced as Polio elimination in the 1960's. Polio was rampant and seemingly random in the 40's and 50's until Salk developed a vaccine in 1955.

Since the mass hysteria and secular migration towards alternative closures, the cork industry at large has taken quality control and R&D to new levels. What has improved with Amorim Cork is, in short; everything.

What's new at Amorim?

• Better harvest techniques
• Quality controls from the forest
• Bark treatment and processing
• Cork treatment and processing
• Manufacturing
• Testing
• R&D
• Sampling
• Quality control in the warehouse
• Packaging

Argument

Since the closure argument started, off the cuff numbers from 2% to 10% have been thrown around in regard to cork failure.

If we had eliminated 100% of the releasable TCA in cork, what then would define failure? Failure to seal?  Bottles have been discovered in shipwrecks with cork and contents unharmed. The modern percentages are much lower for actual defective corks than they are for winemaking, bottling and storage errors. Errors in insertion, transport, and storage effect all closures. Enophiles around the world now proudly and pertly say "corked" whenever a bottle has not lived well. I contend that any unsound wine that has made it all the way to the table in front of guests will be labeled as such. We need to stop training the consumer to say that. If they recognize TCA or TCB, hire them for your tasting room. Most do not.  

The life of the wine

Long term storage for quality wine demands a natural cork seal. 

Synthetic stoppers allow the most oxygen intrusion and the highest loss of SO2 over the life of the wine.

Screw caps and glass stoppers allow the least of each of the above but completely arrest the development of the wine in the bottle and do not contribute positively to the wine as it ages. Reduction becomes the issue. This demands a change in winemaking style for the die- hard screw cap fan. To me, the lack of sulphur dissipation can create an offensive nose for the sulphur sensitive and necessitate decanting. I ask that if you use screw caps, trust the closure and act accordingly to prevent reduction.

Hard stoppers also require more expensive glass and bottling equipment to use.

Translation: If you are selling a quick to market, immediate consumption type or "chill it and kill it" wine, you can and should be thinking about lower cost closures. And here is one within the family of corks that is designed to compete (click to see).

In Summary

Scientific and industrial advances have dramatically decreased the risks associated with using natural cork. If you respect tradition enough to use a bottle, please use a closure made from cork!