Glass Corks

[MedPretzel]

Hi, I translated this article and thought you all might find it interesting. It came from the science part of the popular German Magazine "Der Spiegel" (The Mirror).





Hope you enjoy it!


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People and winemakers (one doesn't exclude the other) are getting sick of normal corks. They make the cellar smell moldy and often times they have to throw out potentially good wine due to bad corks. This happens to roughly 5% of all wine. Screw-caps and crown-corks (?? - direct translation) are just not popular with the wine drinking consumer.

Pro-Wein (Pro-Wine) is going over to an alternative - glass corks. They finally are the answer, as they are neutral to smell and taste. They will bottle roughly 150,000 bottles with the glass corks this year (about half their production). The producer of the glass cork is the American-based company, Alcoa Closure Systems International.


The company is mainly concentrated on aluminum-based closures. The german base is located in Worms, and there is where the glass cork is being made. 5 million Euros and 3 years were invested to develop this new cork.

The cork will first be inserted by hand in the bottle. Then a light aluminum cap will cover it. This allows people to know if it's been opened, as well as preventing damage to the wine and it's glass cork. Instead of a "pop" of the cork, you will hear a light click.


More and more [german] companies have ordered the glass cork for their wineries.

But not all vinters share the euphoria. Most of them don't even want to wait and see how this new cork affects the wine. No one knows how the cork reacts after 25 years or longer. "The closure is not better than others" said the oenologist, Rainer Jung.


Crown-corks or screw caps seem to be the most sensible solution - the wine matures slower and the same in every bottle. "But the metal parts suffer the 'cheap-image'" says Jung. For most wine-drinkers, the eroticism of the "popping" is just about as important as the contents.

 

[Hippie]

Very interesting, Martina, Thank You!

 

[PolishWineP]

Where and how does the sealing of the bottle take place with these glass corks? I've never known glass on glass to form a water tight seal. Does the aluminum cap provide the pressure needed to hold the glass cork in the bottle? (I've never been a fan of aluminum, so many chances of changing flavors and reacting with products.)

I am intrigued with the whole idea though, and I'm sure that if there were big problems vintners wouldn't be using them. I look forward to seeing how they work for long-term use.

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, the article didn't go into explaining exactly how it worked, but from the pictures, it looks like that the glass works as a T-cork. There might be a film of aluminum (like the kind you get when you buy a bottle of aspirin), or the shrinky-cap thing works as the seal.





This is just going from the pictures shown. I think it's an ingenious idea - you could use these things over and over again!Good for the enviroment too!

 

[MedPretzel]

I just found another article about it in English:





Alcoa Begins First Commercial Production of Award-Winning Glass Wine Closure, the Vino-Lok System

WORMS, Germany & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 2004--Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced today that its Alcoa Closure Systems International business has begun commercial production of Vino-Lok, its "glass on glass" closure system for wine bottles that it developed as an alternative to corks and synthetic stoppers. Alcoa will supply the new glass closures from its Worms, Germany, facility to several wineries in Europe that provide wines to Lufthansa, one of the world's leading airlines. Lufthansa plans to offer its passengers a line of premium wines that use the glass stopper early next year.

"The Vino-Lok closure system fills a need in the wine industry, which has sought alternatives to natural cork that meets both the quality and aesthetic demands of connoisseurs," said Siegfried Landskrone, general manager, Alcoa Metal Closures, Europe. "We have more than 100 wineries in Europe purchasing the Vino-Lok stopper for their premier wines, and we have several commitments from winemakers in Australia and South Africa," Landskrone said.

The Vino-Lok closure looks like a decorative decanter stopper, and it is recyclable. Made with rubberized O-rings, the glass stopper provides a sterile seal, preventing contamination or oxidation. An aluminum cap over the bottle will ensure mechanical protection and tamper evidence.

The Vino-Lok "Selection" with a glass stopper is the first product in a portfolio of wine closures that Alcoa CSI is currently developing as an alternative to traditional wine stoppers.

Approved by the Experts and an Innovation Winner

A one-year independent test recently conducted by scientists and wine experts from the prestigious Geisenheim Institute for Applied Enological Sciences and the Oppenheim/Rheinhessen State Teaching and Testing Institute indicates that Alcoa CSI's Vino-Lok closure system meets parameters for technical as well as taste performance compared to traditional wine closures.

Alcoa CSI's Vino-Lok wine closure is also the winner of several prominent awards:

-- Recipient of a Worldstar Award for Packaging Excellence, the preeminent international award in packaging sponsored by the World Packaging Organization. Awards are based on the judges' consensus that a package is superior in its own right, and better in its class in execution or innovation by comparison.

-- The Gold Prize for Innovation in the Filling, Packaging and Sealing category at the international wine and fruit juice exhibition, Intervitis/Interfructa 2004, in Stuttgart, Germany.

-- Packaging Design Award 2004 in the Glass and Metal Packaging Category at the 2004 FachPack exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany. Vino-Lok was selected first from among 62 competitors by a jury made up of experts in the design industry from the Design Academy located in Karlsruhe, Germany; trade media; and the International Forum Design based in Hannover, Germany.

 

[PolishWineP]

MedPretzel, Thanks! That fully answers my question!

It has the rubberized o-ring to form the seal, like a canning jar or some beer bottles. Now I don't feel so confused and my life can go on. I appreciate you going to the effort to find the answer for my question.


Thanks again!

 

[greenbean]

HEy George when you going to get some in

.





Chris