Custom Printed Corks?

[Boatboy24]

Well, my corks are done and are on their way from CA. I'll post up a pic or two when they arrive, but I just wanted to put a plug in for Lafitte. They've been very easy to deal with and I expect the final product to be nothing short of fabulous.

I only make about 350 bottles a year, so this order should last me a while. I plan to do what TonyT mentioned and separate into batches of 100, then vacuum seal each batch in a foodsaver bag. I'll keep a running inventory of 100 or so in my "corkidor" where I keep corks, stoppers, airlocks and hoses.

 

[ibglowin]

Sounds like a good plan. Keep us posted on how they last in the sealed bag. Looking forward to the pics once they arrive. Once again Lafitte is fantastic to work with and they treat us little guys just like we were a big guy!

 

[geek]

Well, my corks are done and are on their way from CA. I'll post up a pic or two when they arrive, but I just wanted to put a plug in for Lafitte. They've been very easy to deal with and I expect the final product to be nothing short of fabulous.

I only make about 350 bottles a year, so this order should last me a while. I plan to do what TonyT mentioned and separate into batches of 100, then vacuum seal each batch in a foodsaver bag. I'll keep a running inventory of 100 or so in my "corkidor" where I keep corks, stoppers, airlocks and hoses.

cool, can't wait to see a picture Jim.

 

[tonyt]

Just approved my proof yesterday.

 

[Boatboy24]

UPS came about an hour ago. I'm really pleased with these corks. Very high quality.

 

[Kraffty]

very professional, bet you can't wait to bottle and give that first one away. I remember you sharing some of the costs but what was the overall bill?
Mike

 

[Runningwolf]

Beautiful!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[ibglowin]

Nothing feels better than a custom cork!

Well almost!

 

[sour_grapes]

Looks great, Jim!

 

[Boatboy24]

very professional, bet you can't wait to bottle and give that first one away. I remember you sharing some of the costs but what was the overall bill?
Mike

Total cost came to $240, including shipping to Virginia. That also included a $100 die cast (one time). So the next order should only be $140, including shipping.

I've been buying 1+1 agglomerated corks in lots of 100 and typically pay $0.22-$0.25 a piece, so this first order was really no more expensive (I just had to buy 1,000 corks). These appear to be of much higher quality too. Next order, I'll be down to about $0.14/cork delivered.

 

[geek]

Nice Jim...

 

[tonyt]

Got mine in yesterday. I couldn't be more pleased. They accomplished incredible detail. The back has a vertical "Tortorici" in Old English font.

 

[geek]

very nice Tony, enjoy..!!

 

[Boatboy24]

Really nice, Tony.

I bottled using mine for the first time the other night. Had about ten or so of the 1+1s I had purchased from MoreWine left. While those were nice corks in my opinion, they don't compare to the corks Laffite sent.

 

[Stickymatch]

Well after waiting a few days after not getting a reply back from Lafitte after me initial email, I gave them a call and received a call back from Nate relatively quickly and started the process. We had to work through some issues with the proof as it wasn't the quality I expected for a proof compared to my proof experience I have with my employment, but Nate and Denise assured me that the resolution would be there and Denise went above and beyond to order the die and print a few corks to show me for approval.

However, I never received an email regarding shipping and they just happened to show up 2 days after I left for a week long business trip to China. Nevertheless, I am very happy with how they turned out and will add a level of detail to my wine and will nicely complement my labels as well. These were printed on the 1+1A corks.

 

[Runningwolf]

WOW very nice and they did come out nice and sharp.

 

[sour_grapes]

The clarity on those is amazing!

 

[Boatboy24]

Great detail!

Once again, I'm super happy with them.

 

[tonyt]

Greatdesign also Stickymatch.

 

[ChefChrisLaVecchia]

The different grades of corks are for wine storage. The cheaper corks will be good to store wine up to 2 years, then the next expensive will store wine up to about 4 years, then the more expensive corks are better if you are storing the wine for 5, 10+ years. I started making my wine this past September. It is still sitting in barrels, but we plan to bottle it this August, September. I have my own private label and am using a company called WidgetCo. Their prices are very reasonable, free shipping, but the only downside is the 1,000 minimum. I will get about 250 bottles from a full barrel so will have a lot of extra corks to hold on to, but can definitely save them for next year, and also make a nice decoration by filling up one of those huge wine glasses with corks to make a nice display piece in the office or trade-show booth.