# corks



## danc (Jul 28, 2011)

Last year in september i bottled a valpolicella kit with #9 1.75" corks and now i have had three bottles so far where wine ahse been leaking through the center area of the cork. there seems to be three or four spots where droplets come through the cork. is thi normal for first run corks? should i have selected a better quality? is it likely that more of these corks will begin to leak?


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## Daisy317 (Jul 28, 2011)

One of the downsides of using natural corks is that they have flaws and may not make a perfect seal. I've had this same thing happen to a few bottles of mine over the last few years. I don't think it's a winemaker error, I think it's just out of so many corks you have odds that one won't be inserted properly, have a flaw, or even your glassware. If you think about it, no two glass bottles are "exactly" alike. If you are that worried about it, drink it or recork it. I haven't really had a problem with the few I had that did this because what leaked created a seal over the hole before I realized it was leaking.


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## Wade E (Jul 28, 2011)

There are a lot of inferior corks out there also especially in the cheaper corks. Corks is nkit an area where you want to cheap out. I use Perfect agglomerate through FVW and they have been working very well with not leaker over the years and they are around the higher range of medium price. They are a blend of composte and natural cork and coated with parafin wax to insert easy and come out easily. Ive never had a bleed through using them and have fruit wines around 5 years old along with plenty of other wines and they all taste great or better (aged) meaning I havent had any wine go sour yet but Im pushing a few as really they should have been passed their prime due to being lower tannin fruit wines.


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## winemaker_3352 (Jul 29, 2011)

I use the SupremeCorq X2 Synthetic corks. Never had an issue.


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## Wade E (Jul 29, 2011)

There are a lot of good corks out there and unfortunately a lot of bad ones. Where ever you got those Id advise you to throw the rest out and never se them again.


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## danc (Jul 29, 2011)

unfortunately they were used on three batches bottled last year, good news they are all gone.


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## tonyt (Jul 29, 2011)

I have tried just about all of the corks. The all natural corks do leak the most, I ahve heard about 1 in every 8 fails. The plastic don't leak at all but they're plastic - yuck. The regular amalgamate are good but the "perfect amalgamate" from FVW are IMHO the best. They fit very tight and are very uniform.


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## Flem (Jul 30, 2011)

Tony. FYI Your link is referencing an Alljuice Merlot bucket.


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## tonyt (Jul 30, 2011)

Flem said:


> Tony. FYI Your link is referencing an Alljuice Merlot bucket.


Thanks, wasn't even looking at the Merlot.


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## Wade E (Jul 30, 2011)

For some reason since George redid his site he is still having a few issues with links not directing properly. I fixed your link Tony.


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## ibglowin (Jul 30, 2011)

Nope, still goes to bucket o merlot..


Try this one


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## Wade E (Jul 30, 2011)

Well thats weird as it opens up properly for me over here.


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## ibglowin (Jul 30, 2011)

If you roll over the link you can see its still directing to part 2310C, the MM bucket o merlot.....

Sure makes it a pain in the ask to post a link to FVW. You have to right click on the link and save the link address, then paste into the inserted link.


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## tonyt (Jul 30, 2011)

Thanks guys, I took the link down. I seem to be link impaired. Tried fixing it twice. I copied the link out of the url line and pasted it into "insert link". Anyway folks they are really good corks and Mike's link above works. He's smarter than the average bear.


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## ibglowin (Aug 1, 2011)

I don't know about that, I have seen some pretty smart bears over the years!


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## kat50496 (Aug 4, 2011)

I have two batches in secondary and will be ordering corks for them soon. From this post I see the perfect agglomerated from FVW are recommended, and I will order from there. If I don't use all of the corks (I'll order 100), how long can the unused corks be stored for later use. I assume I will make a corkadore (SP) for storage.


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## robie (Aug 4, 2011)

kat50496 said:


> I have two batches in secondary and will be ordering corks for them soon. From this post I see the perfect agglomerated from FVW are recommended, and I will order from there. If I don't use all of the corks (I'll order 100), how long can the unused corks be stored for later use. I assume I will make a corkadore (SP) for storage.



I keep mine sealed, so they don't dry out. Some of mine are over a year old and they still feel and smell fresh.
Here's what I would do - I would call George at FVW and ask him or Joseph; they both love to hear from us.


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## JohnT (Aug 4, 2011)

how much of a gap do you leave between the cork and the wine? I leave about a finger's width of a air gap in the neck of the bottle (between the wine and the cork). 

I use only natural corks and (out of thousands bottled) never really have any that fail. I would recomend that you inspect your corker (floor corkers are under $100.00) and then inspect/question the quality of your corks.


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