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Normally we bottle in the late Summer, before the Fall crush, but we have some Rose and white Zin to bottle in the near future so it was time to gather some equipment - including corks.
Many of you probably have good sources for corks but I'd thought I still share ours. We were VERY impressed with the quality of corks we got last yer from Amorim Cork America in Napa. Our contact there was Adam Sensney (415-819-6533).
I really liked their Twin Top line of corks. Twin tops means a "top" of natural cork on both ends then an agglomerated body. Very solid for up to 4-years of storage. We selected "grade-A" so we could go longer with little risk.
We have used many other corks from the local brew store to Amazon, and these corks were just superior.
Here's a little more about these corks.....
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Twin tops are a very tried and true closure for the wine market with a track record of over 20 years. The natural cork disc allows for the wine to be in contact with a natural material (the agglomerated body is formed with a binding agent/FDA approved glue) and the discs also allow for some oxygen ingress into the wine so that the wine can develop with some aging and without creating a reductive environment. The "A" grade disc is the highest classification of disc quality, assuring a winemaker fewer lenticels (holes), hardwood, and other type of defects you might see with low quality bark/cork material.
The twin top manufacturing is tricky and requires a high level of manufacturing and skill. Proper controls have to be in place to make the agglomerated body and discs and to reduce any chance of TCA or other compounds that could alter a wines flavor. From the time you strip the bark from a tree (the tree's can be stripped of bark every 9 years, and the trees last 150-300 years), it takes approximately 12-18 months before the cork can be ready to put into a bottle. Amorim is the world's largest producer of Twin Top corks, with an annual production of around 800 million closures (4.5 billion cork closures total).
Twin Tops are a perfect solution for wineries that want to see their wines develop for an average period of 1-4 years. Because they're a manufactured wine cork, they come at a less expensive cost but retain the status of an all natural product that is good for the environment, good for winemakers, and ultimately good for the consumers.
Many of you probably have good sources for corks but I'd thought I still share ours. We were VERY impressed with the quality of corks we got last yer from Amorim Cork America in Napa. Our contact there was Adam Sensney (415-819-6533).
I really liked their Twin Top line of corks. Twin tops means a "top" of natural cork on both ends then an agglomerated body. Very solid for up to 4-years of storage. We selected "grade-A" so we could go longer with little risk.
We have used many other corks from the local brew store to Amazon, and these corks were just superior.
Here's a little more about these corks.....
---------------------
Twin tops are a very tried and true closure for the wine market with a track record of over 20 years. The natural cork disc allows for the wine to be in contact with a natural material (the agglomerated body is formed with a binding agent/FDA approved glue) and the discs also allow for some oxygen ingress into the wine so that the wine can develop with some aging and without creating a reductive environment. The "A" grade disc is the highest classification of disc quality, assuring a winemaker fewer lenticels (holes), hardwood, and other type of defects you might see with low quality bark/cork material.
The twin top manufacturing is tricky and requires a high level of manufacturing and skill. Proper controls have to be in place to make the agglomerated body and discs and to reduce any chance of TCA or other compounds that could alter a wines flavor. From the time you strip the bark from a tree (the tree's can be stripped of bark every 9 years, and the trees last 150-300 years), it takes approximately 12-18 months before the cork can be ready to put into a bottle. Amorim is the world's largest producer of Twin Top corks, with an annual production of around 800 million closures (4.5 billion cork closures total).
Twin Tops are a perfect solution for wineries that want to see their wines develop for an average period of 1-4 years. Because they're a manufactured wine cork, they come at a less expensive cost but retain the status of an all natural product that is good for the environment, good for winemakers, and ultimately good for the consumers.
