Nomacorc shelf life

[DaveMcC]

I've been looking at the Nomacorc 900 green line and many of the suppliers (but not all) recommend using the corks (corcs?) within 6 months of production.
Since minimum orders on some of their product line (44mm length, colors) are 3,000 (in bags of 1K), I was wondering if one could (or should) vacuum seal the remaining unused portion after a bottling of 150 to 200. Any info is appreciated. I did reach out to Nomacorc, but did not yet receive a response.
Dave

 

[Rice_Guy]

I use the standard series from the local store. (not 900s) Have never had an issue and the local store didn’t give a warning.

Curious shelf life. In groceries most products have a two year shelf life which is because the colors on the package fade and dust from the grocery store make the package unattractive. Also curious since grocery packaging survives better than the product which we put inside the package. Curious since six months in the dristribution warehouse happens due to off season lulls.

Why would Nomacork start failing six months after manufacture?

 

[DaveMcC]

Well, that's what I was wondering. Since they are a plant derived copolymer, maybe they oxidize. Otoh, their premium products are rated for 25 years in the bottle, so can't imagine they would go "bad" or break down in a bag, especially if vacuum sealed. If I can get a positive response, I might invest in 3K and store the ones I don't use. Maybe break down the larger bags into smaller 100 cork portions. That's my thinking, anyway.

 

[BigDaveK]

I have Nomacorc and natural cork. Haven't seen anything about Nomacorc shelf life but I did read that the National Cork User Group and also Amorim Cork America advises using cork within 6 months of manufacture - which shocked me because my corks were certainly older than that when I bought them.

 

[winemaker81]

I've had Nomacorcs set for 2 years, and they're fine. I keep them in the original package, pressing excess air out and securing with a binder clip between bottling sessions.

 

[Rice_Guy]

@BigDaveK good references, ,, I find it interesting that agglomerated cork is 20% vegetable polyols (alcohols). My guess is that Nomacorc is close to 100% cellulose / plant derived polyols combined with a trace of silicone (lubricant) on the skin. The Amorim product specifies storage conditions which I would translate to if it is too humid they are at risk of growing moldy and if too dry they lose elastic properties and won’t seal properly.

Amorim marketing gives spin like “girls want diamonds (cork), they last (tastes good) forever”. I hate to fess up that having been in the building next to the food packaging lab and seen plastics it changed the mindset, ,,, No one polymer gives everything to protect the product, but suppliers have developed multilayer/ multi polymer films which are close to the barrier quality of glass. ,,, And unfortunately they last in the land fill forever.

"Indefinitely"? . . . vendor has crappy web sites that are not necessarily up to date nor easy to find things in. From data sheets on CorkSupply, following are vendor claims forNomacorcs:
3 years - Smart Green
5 years - Classic Green AKA Select 900
8 years - Select 500
10 years - Select 300
15 years - Select 100
25 years - Reserva

AFAIK, the Nomacorcs that are sold without a name or part number are Select 900.

From research I did last year, CorkSupply is a partner, not the vendor, which is Vinventions. Their web site doesn't contain detailed info that I could find, but there are links at the bottom of the individual paints that link to datasheets on a different site. The text of the links is nearly the same color as the background, so I spotted it simply because it was blank space where I expected to find text.

A last note, the synthetics are naturally very tight/ low oxygen transmission per year. To mimic micro-oxygenation they seem to electrically burn small channels on the surface skin. Aluminum caps with a Saran liner are tighter/ better for shelf life than Nomacorc.