# Good corks?



## tmmii (Oct 4, 2014)

So I keep reading on different cork types and the general consensus is if they are good natural corks they will last for years if in a good environment and kept wet from the wine. 

When people say "good corks" how do they determine it before having a bad batch? I'm using ld carlson 9 x 1 3/4. Here is one that has been in a bottle since late march. 


Shouldn't have any issues using these in the future right?


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## richmke (Oct 5, 2014)

I would call LD "premium" #9 corks as mid-quality. Good for 2 years. If you want to age 5-10 years, then you need to step up to graded corks. At those prices, you might want to consider the synthetic Nomacorc.


http://www.widgetco.com/natural-wine-corks


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## tonyt (Oct 5, 2014)

Those are fine. Bad corks would have air holes and or be old and overly dry. I have never had a bad almagnum cork but I understand several years ago they had issues. Yours should be fine. I have only had natural corks that were bad. I use bi disk corks they have amalgum in the middle and natural caps on top and bottom. I like the look but the point is that the wine doesn't touch the "glue" in the amalgum.


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## sour_grapes (Oct 5, 2014)

I cannot say I have the knowledge that this is correct, but I settled on bi-disk corks as the sensible middle ground, too.


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## richmke (Oct 5, 2014)

tonyt said:


> I use bi disk corks they have amalgum in the middle and natural caps on top and bottom. I like the look but the point is that the wine doesn't touch the "glue" in the amalgum.



The wine will penetrate the inner disk and contact the amalgam. I have no position on whether that is bad or not.


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## garymc (Oct 5, 2014)

I have some amalgamated corks, some dual disk corks, and a few natural corks. If I make a batch of something really special, I'll put up a few bottles with the natural and dual disc in addition to some with the cheaper amalgamated. I'm using a higher percentage of amalgamated corks as I make more wine. Most is given away and not expected to be aged. Any more, I ask my relatives (most of the targets of my gifts) what they like and if they say "moscato," I give them sweet, weak, wine with an amalgamated cork.


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## tmmii (Oct 5, 2014)

richmke said:


> I would call LD "premium" #9 corks as mid-quality. Good for 2 years. If you want to age 5-10 years, then you need to step up to graded corks. At those prices, you might want to consider the synthetic Nomacorc.
> 
> 
> http://www.widgetco.com/natural-wine-corks




I like the explanations on that site. 

Haven't had any make it over two years (most are lucky to make it 6 
months!) I am trying to set a few bottles back and will buy some better corks for that. 



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## Treeman (Oct 9, 2014)

Wes Hagen promotes the view that most cork is tainted with TCA and results in off flavors and aromas.
[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a-JupdhlI2Y[/ame]

He has moved to using Diam cork which is ground up cork that has been extracted to remove TCA and likely other compounds that could result in changes to wine aromas. Diam corks are harder to find in small quantities but run about $0.33 each. They are also harder to compress when bottling, and harder to remove from bottles when you are ready to drink!

I haven't made the move to these yet, but for an extra $0.10-$0.20 per bottle it seems to make sense....especially for anything that will age.


Cheers!


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