Long time lurker, first time poster.

So I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and travel up to the wine
country quite often, as do some of my friends. So one of my pals goes
up there and apparently, from what they tell me, they stopped by one
tasting room, and it was during normal business hours, and they were
closed. They determined that the place must have gone out of business,
as these are som unfortunate times for certain smaller and lesser
known businesses I believe. So while they were getting back in their
car, they saw that the dumpster was full, overflowing with junk. Some
of that junk was HUGE sealed bags of UNUSED corks. So they grabbed two
bags of them, and brought them back for me. They didn't tell me about
them right away, and I was absolutely excited about it. I asked them
if there were any more, and they said that "the dumpster was full of
bags of corks." But by that time, the trash had most likely been
emptied. Argh!

So these two bags were still sealed, and I opened one up (looks like a
gross to me) and they are nice looking corks, not composites, or
composites with cork discs on each end, but solid corks. So I've been
thinking about using them, but then I thought to myself, "Well, what
if they weren't from an out of business vineyard? What if they were
tossing these because there was something WRONG with them? Why risk my
wine on them?" But I then thought, "Relax, don't worry, have some
homemade wine. They're probably OK."

Any way I can tell? I smell them and they smell...well...like corks.
They look...you know, like corks.

Plus, two gross would almost get me through this year's run. Free
would be a good price.

Regards,

Deadend

"Deadend" > wrote:

> So these two bags were still sealed, and I opened one up (looks like a
> gross to me) and they are nice looking corks, not composites, or
> composites with cork discs on each end, but solid corks. So I've been
> thinking about using them, but then I thought to myself, "Well, what
> if they weren't from an out of business vineyard? What if they were
> tossing these because there was something WRONG with them? Why risk my
> wine on them?" But I then thought, "Relax, don't worry, have some
> homemade wine. They're probably OK."
>
> Any way I can tell? I smell them and they smell...well...like corks.
> They look...you know, like corks.
>
> Plus, two gross would almost get me through this year's run. Free
> would be a good price.

Since this was a vineyard/winery, and not a cork-manufacturer, it is
unlikely they would discard defective corks. They would send them back to
the supplier/manufacturer for a refund. Wouldn't you? Remember, it wasn't
just two bags, it was a whole dumpsterful!

Similarly, if they were the wrong size, or had the wrong imprint, they would
have returned them, or found a buyer.

On the other hand, why would they have discarded them just because they went
out of business? Surely they could have found a buyer in the
Marin/Napa/Sonomo area? Maybe they were in a hurry to get out of town?

You say they look ok and smell ok. Measure the diameters of a few corks. Are
they out of round, or the wrong size for a standard bottle? Squeeze them. Do
they crumble? Are they radioactive? If you can't find anything noticeably
wrong with them, why not use them? If they were in sealed bags, and even if
they were not, and microbial or organic problem would probably be visible by
now (assuming several weeks since you discovered the treasure).

Also, don't assume that dumpster has been emptied. If they went out of
business and couldn't pay all their bills, it may not have been collected
yet. I'd drive from SF to Eureka if it meant saving a few thousand dollars.
Even if it's empty, you could always visit another winery.

Did you happen to notice if they had a Lugano destemmer hanging around
looking for a good home?

"Negodki" > wrote in message >...
> "Deadend" > wrote:

> Since this was a vineyard/winery, and not a cork-manufacturer, it is
> unlikely they would discard defective corks. They would send them back to
> the supplier/manufacturer for a refund. Wouldn't you?

Yeah, I thought about that. Why throw them away? Why not return them?
I guess they were in a hurry, like you said, and didn't have the time,
for whatever reason. Running away from the mafia and not the bank,
maybe?

> Similarly, if they were the wrong size, or had the wrong imprint, they would
> have returned them, or found a buyer.

That's aother interesting thing. There's NO imprint. I was surprised
by that, but in a way, it's preferrable for me.

> On the other hand, why would they have discarded them just because they went
> out of business? Surely they could have found a buyer in the
> Marin/Napa/Sonomo area? Maybe they were in a hurry to get out of town?

I dunno. Don't think I ever will.

> You say they look ok and smell ok. Measure the diameters of a few corks. Are
> they out of round, or the wrong size for a standard bottle? Squeeze them. Do
> they crumble?

They are pretty uniform and round. I didn't think to measure them.
That's a good idea. See, that's why I always ask. There's always
something you never thought of.

> Are they radioactive?

Well, there's a happy thought I also hadn't considered. Surely, you're
joking. Right?

> If you can't find anything noticeably
> wrong with them, why not use them? If they were in sealed bags, and even if
> they were not, and microbial or organic problem would probably be visible by
> now (assuming several weeks since you discovered the treasure).

Yep, my pals found them, put them up on top of a cabinet and forgot
about them for weeks. Later on I happened to mention the grape harvest
and that jogged their memory and they went and grabbed the corks. It
was one of those "wow!" kind of surprises, followed by "crap!" because
I couldn't believe that there was a whole pile of them, that I would
have gone and grabbed in a New York minute. But it's been over two
months now, and they're going to be gone. Hell, the building was
probably taken over by somebody else by now.

> Also, don't assume that dumpster has been emptied. If they went out of
> business and couldn't pay all their bills, it may not have been collected
> yet. I'd drive from SF to Eureka if it meant saving a few thousand dollars.
> Even if it's empty, you could always visit another winery.

Yeah, I hear you, but it's been months. They're gone. The killer was I
was JUST up there a few weeks prior, harvesting some grapes. (Half a
ton, plus the 300 lbs. I bought from my middleman down here. It'll be
a big year for me.) had I known then, I would have driven by and
looked. But I'm not going back up there now.

> Did you happen to notice if they had a Lugano destemmer hanging around
> looking for a good home?

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, also. I alwasy like to keep a couple
hundred in cash in my pocket as you never know. If I had stumbled upon
this place, I would have poked around a lot more and would have made
an offer on a crusher/destemmer, a nicer press (a bladder press would
be sweet), well, ANYTHING I could use at home. And this hobby year
after year seems to be becoming more of an obsession...

Regards,

Deadend

Negodki: Are they radioactive?

Deadend: Well, there's a happy thought I also hadn't considered. Surely,
you're joking. Right?

Negodki: I'm joking, but you never know. I knew someone who made a set of
darts out of "spent" uranium, not realizing that it was still radioactive.
Don't worry about it. There's nothing in a winery, or in that area of
California, to create such a problem. On the other hand, if your analogue
watch goes crazy every time you get near the corks, or if your geiger
counter is trying to keep time with a bubbler on steroids....

Negodki: Did you happen to notice if they had a Lugano destemmer hanging
around looking for a good home?

> Deadend: Yeah, my thoughts exactly, also. I alwasy like to keep a couple
> hundred in cash in my pocket as you never know. If I had stumbled upon
> this place, I would have poked around a lot more and would have made
> an offer on a crusher/destemmer, a nicer press (a bladder press would
> be sweet), well, ANYTHING I could use at home. And this hobby year
> after year seems to be becoming more of an obsession...

I had something similar happen. There was a "local" winery (not a very good
one) that I passed on my monthly trips to the city. I kept meaning to stop
in, because I knew they were liquidating SOME of their supplies, but first I
was too busy, and then I never saw any cars there, and assumed it was
closed. I finally stopped by, and found the place was completely empty!
They'd gone out of business, and fire-saled everything for about 10 cents on
the dollar. I could have had tanks, destemmers, crushers, bottles. H*ll, I
could have opened up a winery!

>
> Any way I can tell? I smell them and they smell...well...like corks.

This is one indicator for you. A fresh bag of corks should smell more like
sulfur dioxide than corks. So much so that it'll make you gasp.

Any corks I've received came 1000 in a bag.

clyde

That sulfur sure does hit you, and a bag of 1000 is about 3 feet long...

If it's only a couple hundred per bag it might have been samples.

Joe

>This is one indicator for you. A fresh bag of corks should smell more like
> sulfur dioxide than corks. So much so that it'll make you gasp.
>
> Any corks I've received came 1000 in a bag.
>
> clyde

"Deadend" > wrote in message
om...
> Long time lurker, first time poster.
>
> So I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and travel up to the wine
> country quite often, as do some of my friends. So one of my pals goes
> up there and apparently, from what they tell me, they stopped by one
> tasting room, and it was during normal business hours, and they were
> closed. They determined that the place must have gone out of business,
> as these are som unfortunate times for certain smaller and lesser
> known businesses I believe. So while they were getting back in their
> car, they saw that the dumpster was full, overflowing with junk. Some
> of that junk was HUGE sealed bags of UNUSED corks. So they grabbed two
> bags of them, and brought them back for me. They didn't tell me about
> them right away, and I was absolutely excited about it. I asked them
> if there were any more, and they said that "the dumpster was full of
> bags of corks." But by that time, the trash had most likely been
> emptied. Argh!
>
> So these two bags were still sealed, and I opened one up (looks like a
> gross to me) and they are nice looking corks, not composites, or
> composites with cork discs on each end, but solid corks. So I've been
> thinking about using them, but then I thought to myself, "Well, what
> if they weren't from an out of business vineyard? What if they were
> tossing these because there was something WRONG with them? Why risk my
> wine on them?" But I then thought, "Relax, don't worry, have some
> homemade wine. They're probably OK."
>
> Any way I can tell? I smell them and they smell...well...like corks.
> They look...you know, like corks.
>
> Plus, two gross would almost get me through this year's run. Free
> would be a good price.

If they came in a sealed bag it's safe to assume they are OK.

Tom S