synthetic corks

[mainshipfred]

I just spoke to Scott Labs and Lafatite about the aging capabilities of their natural corks and got the same answer from both. I spoke to them because they are the only 2 places I know of that would be a reliable source of information. The response was 6-8 years and 5-7 years respectively no matter what the grade was and the only difference in the grading is the appearance. Now I don't know if there is any truth in what they said but to get the same answer from 2 reliable sources leads me to believe what they say. Although in my mind I would think the higher grade would allow the wine to age longer. But why would they say this, in a way it's telling me to buy the lower grade.

 

[hounddawg]

Flor corks is the highest graded naturel cork, they are the longest shelf/closure cork harvested,, nomacrock reserva is rated for the longest syndetic cork, that i know of, I have and still do some Flor corks for any 10 year plus bottle, as soon as my nomacroc select 900's are gone ( 500 left ), I'll be using nomacroc reservra
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

oh and the graded system is by micro oxygen getting in,,,
Dawg

 

[wineh]

I bit the bullet and bought the Italian floor corker with shiny Jaws. Bottled a batch on Saturday, so far so good. The horizontal test will be tomorrow.

 

[hounddawg]

I bit the bullet and bought the Italian floor corker with shiny Jaws. Bottled a batch on Saturday, so far so good. The horizontal test will be tomorrow.

I've run my Italian floor corker for a few years now, only problem, I've ever had with it was,, I wasn't watching what i was doing when i was checking airlocks on my bulk aging and tripped over mine,,
Dawg

 

[wineh]

I've run my Italian floor corker for a few years now, only problem, I've ever had with it was,, I wasn't watching what i was doing when i was checking airlocks on my bulk aging and tripped over mine,,
Dawg

LOL. It definitely has a bigger footprint than my old corker!

 

[hounddawg]

LOL. It definitely has a bigger footprint than my old corker!

yep, but you got you a very good corker, that you'll enjoy for years to come,,,, knock on wood ,,
Dawg

 

[wineh]

Well I've done 2 more things. I have some natural corks left so I Bottled a batch using half corks, half synthetics. I'll let you know in a year if there's a significant difference. I also asked for clarification from RJS. I'll see if I can source some nomacorcs in my location.

So that was just over a year ago, and I came upon a case of that wine. The other day, I opened one of each and poured 2 glasses for comparison.
I noted that the aromas and tastes were slightly different from each other, but both were fine and had clearly aged appropriately.
My wife on the other hand, who has a better nose and palate than I, said they were like night and day and pointed to the one that she liked better. It was the one that had the synthetic cork in it.
So, the experiment continues, but I no longer fear the synthetic!
Cheers!

 

[bstnh1]

So that was just over a year ago, and I came upon a case of that wine. The other day, I opened one of each and poured 2 glasses for comparison.
I noted that the aromas and tastes were slightly different from each other, but both were fine and had clearly aged appropriately.
My wife on the other hand, who has a better nose and palate than I, said they were like night and day and pointed to the one that she liked better. It was the one that had the synthetic cork in it.
So, the experiment continues, but I no longer fear the synthetic!
Cheers!

So why does she like the synthetic better? What did she see as the difference?

 

[winemaker81]

My wife on the other hand, who has a better nose and palate than I

Yup. I trust my wife's nose more than my own. Like @bstnh1, I'm interested in detailed feedback.

 

[Rice_Guy]

The general comment from the synthetic cork supplier is that his corks retain fruity aromas better.

So why does she like the synthetic better? What did she see as the difference?

The purpose for putting this video in was the question, Why should I care about bottle oxidation? The video is a tasting session with a white and a red wine against Nomacorc 100 & 500 & a competitor with different oxygen addition rates. Oxidative Nomacorc (and natural cork) produces fruity where as low transmission cork created flinty flavor; 21 minutes
* Taste The Difference - Wines under different oxygen levels by Dr. Maurizio Ugliano of Nomacorc, 2013

there are more vendor presentations about oxidation and reduction in the thread “industrial course”.

 

[MiBor]

Synthetic corks will give you trouble with extended aging. They really like to bond to the bottle. As me how I know.

So, how do you know, SpoiledRotten?

I used the Select900 for some of my wines for a few vintages now. The few bottles that I found to have the Nomacorcs somewhat stuck and hard to remove were part of a batch that I used some thick vinyl shrink capsules on. They required extra heating for shrinking and I believe the necks of those bottles got overheated and the heat was transferred to the corks and partially melted the outer shiny coating on the Nomacorcs. I think Spoiled is trying to warn us that this could happen and I think it's worth being mindful of how much heat we use if we apply shrink capsules on "Noma-corked" bottles, especially if using a heat gun for the shrinking process.

 

[hounddawg]

So, how do you know, SpoiledRotten?

I used the Select900 for some of my wines for a few vintages now. The few bottles that I found to have the Nomacorcs somewhat stuck and hard to remove were part of a batch that I used some thick vinyl shrink capsules on. They required extra heating for shrinking and I believe the necks of those bottles got overheated and the heat was transferred to the corks and partially melted the outer shiny coating on the Nomacorcs. I think Spoiled is trying to warn us that this could happen and I think it's worth being mindful of how much heat we use if we apply shrink capsules on "Noma-corked" bottles, especially if using a heat gun for the shrinking process.

i use a heat gun on my nomacroc select 9's just hold gun back a little futher from the bottle, i have used a heat gun from the begainif,ng with no problems from my nomacroc's secelect 9's ,, for a few years i used FLOR Corks on everything i crafted, it is lke work, if you're going to do somthing give it your best shot , even now some of the high dallor wines have gone to nomacroc, some not all, i ihave tried others that used select 9 nomacroc's up to 19 years, even though they are rated for about half that long. I've not bought a croc in almost 3 years now,, but still have about 500 t0 600 select 9's to go' at which i plan to upgrade to nomacroc's best, which is rated for 25 years, on from skeeter pee port to my best wines i give my all, including the croc and packagibng , i got skeeter pee aging for close to 2 years now , but it is 1 quart lemom juice to gallon of water, yeah i knw it was designed as a quick wine, yet i only gotta suit myself,, OR AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD MANY TIMES ON HERE, sane for my dragon blood, i use 3 kinds of berries but at least 3 times the amount the berris as they recomend, I SUIT MYSELF, AS SHOULD EVERY ONE,,, Amazon has the top of the line noma crocs at $300 per #1000,,, those that make top shelf tradishonl grape wines, i am fine with,, theY suit there sleves, just like i suit my self, WHAT EVER ONE MAKES IS PERFET AS LONG AS THE ARE HAPPY,, it bother me the people that guzzle my hard loved wines, hence skeeter pess, for the and for my sleep,
Dawg

 

[wineh]

So why does she like the synthetic better? What did she see as the difference?

She felt that the wine under the synthetic was more "shiraz like" while the other she felt was "plummy ' like a merlot. I didn't get it, but I let her have the bottle she preferred. Lol

 

[hounddawg]

She felt that the wine under the synthetic was more "shiraz like" while the other she felt was "plummy ' like a merlot. I didn't get it, but I let her have the bottle she preferred. Lol

whew good choise,,, i guess you are smarter then you look..... lol
Dawg

 

[wineh]

So that was just over a year ago, and I came upon a case of that wine. The other day, I opened one of each and poured 2 glasses for comparison.
I noted that the aromas and tastes were slightly different from each other, but both were fine and had clearly aged appropriately.
My wife on the other hand, who has a better nose and palate than I, said they were like night and day and pointed to the one that she liked better. It was the one that had the synthetic cork in it.
So, the experiment continues, but I no longer fear the synthetic!
Cheers!

So, every fall I hide away a case of assorted wines that I have made/bought in the last year. The case I hid this fall will be retrieved in July of 2023. I put a pair of cork/synthetic shiraz in that box. I will try remember this thread then. Cheers!

 

[Monty Knapp]

I use them.
Lately, I've started bottling half a batch of wine with the regular corks, but the other half with synthetic corks - which have a longer life span.
I put different colored capsules on them then tell them apart - and drink the ones with the regular corks first.
Then, if any last until the 4 or 5 year point, they have a cork that is still good at that point.

 

[szap]

Synthetic corks will give you trouble with extended aging. They really like to bond to the bottle. As me how I know.

I know exactly what you mean! Almost impossible to remove them with a cork screw.

 

[MiBor]

In light of my recent experiences with Nomacorcs, I'm afraid I have to stop using them altogether and can no longer recommend them to anyone. Here is what happened:
I bottled a batch of Sauvignon Blanc in early September using the Noma 900s and thin vinyl shrink capsules. Over the weekend I had some guests who wanted to taste it and I put a couple of bottles in the freezer for half hour, than moved them to the fridge for another half hour. When the time came to open them, the Nomacorcs in both of them started spinning with the corkscrew and I couldn't open them. I had to improvise something to keep them from spinning so I could get the corkscrew inserted in those corks and remove them. Than I tried opening another bottle of the same wine at room temperature and the cork in that one was not spinning at all. That tells me that Nomacorcs can't accommodate chilling of the wine bottles they are used on.
Also over the weekend I had a friend tell me that he couldn't open a bottle of red wine I gave him and he had to drill out the cork. That got me worried and when I got home I tried opening another bottle from the same batch. To my surprise, the Nomacorc was stuck and I couldn't get it open. That must have been the result of heating the metalized shrink capsules that I put on, because another bottle without the capsule opened just fine.
After these experiences I'm totally done with Nomacorcs and will never use them again. I'll take the risk of having a few bottles with cork taint and Use Aglica or some other natural corks from now on. As much as I didn't want to believe it, @SpoiledRotten was right. Maybe not all Nomacorc closures have these problems or maybe the fact that they are a year old had something to do with it, but I'm really done with this brand and I don't recommend anyone use them again, unless you don't plan on chilling your wine or using shrink capsules on your bottles.

 

[wineh]

SER=19924]@SpoiledRotten[/USER] was right. Maybe not all Nomacorc closures have these problems or maybe the fact that they are a year old had something to do with it, but I'm really done with this brand and I don't recommend anyone use them again, unless you don't plan on chilling your wine or using shrink capsules on your bottles.

I haven't been using them as long as you, but I have minor concerns. I had one stuck hard enough that I chipped the bottle with my bartender's corkscrew and had to dispose of it. (one of about 150) I don't use shrinkwraps. Wine does age differently under them than cork, but I don't think that's an issue. Occasionally, I don't get to the bottom of a bottle and have to reuse the cork. The synthetics don't like that.
My biggest problem has been trying to source long natural corks. I recently tried semi-synthetic aglomerated corks, and early results are promising.