There are 2 kind of corks made of cork: the cilindric ones, used for non
sparkling wines, and those made of a lower cilindric part and an upper,
larger, dome shaped part that's the part one grabs to open the bottle. The
latter are used for sparkling wines, as is champagne. Usually the lower part
is made of good cork whose quality maxes at the bottom end (the one in
contact with the wine) and decreases while climbing up towards the upper
part of the cork, which is made of minced and glued low quality cork bits.
In Italy, these 2 parts corks are called "tappi a fungo", which translates
to "mushroom corks": what are theyr english and french name?
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

On 2009-09-15 03:54:48 -0700, "ViLco" > said:

> There are 2 kind of corks made of cork: the cilindric ones, used for non
> sparkling wines, and those made of a lower cilindric part and an upper,
> larger, dome shaped part that's the part one grabs to open the bottle. The
> latter are used for sparkling wines, as is champagne. Usually the lower part
> is made of good cork whose quality maxes at the bottom end (the one in
> contact with the wine) and decreases while climbing up towards the upper
> part of the cork, which is made of minced and glued low quality cork bits.
> In Italy, these 2 parts corks are called "tappi a fungo", which translates
> to "mushroom corks": what are theyr english and french name?

As a consumer on the west coast of the US, I can definitivly say we
call them "corks". :-)
In my experience, the US/Champagne joint ventures all use large corks
which are the same
all the way through. If you let them sit for a couple of days after
opening the wine, they
will expand to have relatively straight sides. While I've seen the
composite corks you describe,
I've never heard them called anything other than "corks."

Ronin wrote:
> On 2009-09-15 03:54:48 -0700, "ViLco" > said:
>
>> There are 2 kind of corks made of cork: the cilindric ones, used for non
>> sparkling wines, and those made of a lower cilindric part and an upper,
>> larger, dome shaped part that's the part one grabs to open the bottle.
>> The
>> latter are used for sparkling wines, as is champagne. Usually the
>> lower part
>> is made of good cork whose quality maxes at the bottom end (the one in
>> contact with the wine) and decreases while climbing up towards the upper
>> part of the cork, which is made of minced and glued low quality cork
>> bits.
>> In Italy, these 2 parts corks are called "tappi a fungo", which
>> translates
>> to "mushroom corks": what are theyr english and french name?
>
> As a consumer on the west coast of the US, I can definitivly say we call
> them "corks". :-)
> In my experience, the US/Champagne joint ventures all use large corks
> which are the same
> all the way through. If you let them sit for a couple of days after
> opening the wine, they
> will expand to have relatively straight sides. While I've seen the
> composite corks you describe,
> I've never heard them called anything other than "corks."
>
The bulk of sparkling wine corks (stoppers) are manufactured
cylindrical. They are then only partially inserted into the bottle.
That part which remains outside of the bottle tends to expand towards
it's original size. But this is also constrained by the wire hood.
These factors account for the mushroom shape.

The body of the stopper is indeed made from "grain", granular pieces of
cork which are strictly controlled and bonded together with an adhesive.
This is called an "agglo", as in agglomerate. Make note that
this is not an economic technique as with cheap still wine corks. It is
a structural one. "Natural" (one piece)cork would be totally
inappropriate for sparkling wine. On quality sparkling wine corks there
are 1 or 2 disks glued to the end of the agglo body, and in touch with
the product. The quality of these discs, and whether there are 1 or 2
of them, is the real measure of the quality of the stopper. There are
other important nuances to their manufacture, but suffice it to say that
they are seriously engineered for performance. They must stay in the
bottle (not be "fliers" which can cause injury), but must be removable
lest consumers try to use a tool to extract them (also dangerous). Some
manufacturers extrude the agglo bodies in sticks, and cut them to
length. The better ones form them in individual molds - much more
expensive, but better physical dynamics. Coatings are critical. QC is
exigent.

-Bruce

On 2009-09-16 20:54:15 -0700, Bruce Edwards > said:

> The bulk of sparkling wine corks (stoppers) are manufactured
> cylindrical. They are then only partially inserted into the bottle.
> That part which remains outside of the bottle tends to expand towards
> it's original size. But this is also constrained by the wire hood.
> These factors account for the mushroom shape.
>
> The body of the stopper is indeed made from "grain", granular pieces of
> cork which are strictly controlled and bonded together with an
> adhesive. This is called an "agglo", as in agglomerate. Make
> note that this is not an economic technique as with cheap still wine
> corks. It is a structural one. "Natural" (one piece)cork would be
> totally inappropriate for sparkling wine. On quality sparkling wine
> corks there are 1 or 2 disks glued to the end of the agglo body, and in
> touch with the product. The quality of these discs, and whether there
> are 1 or 2 of them, is the real measure of the quality of the stopper.
> There are other important nuances to their manufacture, but suffice it
> to say that they are seriously engineered for performance. They must
> stay in the bottle (not be "fliers" which can cause injury), but must
> be removable lest consumers try to use a tool to extract them (also
> dangerous). Some manufacturers extrude the agglo bodies in sticks, and
> cut them to length. The better ones form them in individual molds -
> much more expensive, but better physical dynamics. Coatings are
> critical. QC is exigent.
>
> -Bruce

Interesting... Do you know what was used before "agglo"? I presume
that that is a relatively recent "improvement".

Jim

Ronin wrote:
> On 2009-09-16 20:54:15 -0700, Bruce Edwards > said:
>
>> The bulk of sparkling wine corks (stoppers) are manufactured
>> cylindrical. They are then only partially inserted into the bottle.
>> That part which remains outside of the bottle tends to expand towards
>> it's original size. But this is also constrained by the wire hood.
>> These factors account for the mushroom shape.
>>
>> The body of the stopper is indeed made from "grain", granular pieces
>> of cork which are strictly controlled and bonded together with an
>> adhesive. This is called an "agglo", as in agglomerate. Make
>> note that this is not an economic technique as with cheap still wine
>> corks. It is a structural one. "Natural" (one piece)cork would be
>> totally inappropriate for sparkling wine. On quality sparkling wine
>> corks there are 1 or 2 disks glued to the end of the agglo body, and
>> in touch with the product. The quality of these discs, and whether
>> there are 1 or 2 of them, is the real measure of the quality of the
>> stopper. There are other important nuances to their manufacture, but
>> suffice it to say that they are seriously engineered for performance.
>> They must stay in the bottle (not be "fliers" which can cause injury),
>> but must be removable lest consumers try to use a tool to extract them
>> (also dangerous). Some manufacturers extrude the agglo bodies in
>> sticks, and cut them to length. The better ones form them in
>> individual molds - much more expensive, but better physical dynamics.
>> Coatings are critical. QC is exigent.
>>
>> -Bruce
>
> Interesting... Do you know what was used before "agglo"? I presume
> that that is a relatively recent "improvement".
>
> Jim
>
I can't speak about the 17th century, but prior to the age of
mechanization (not all that long ago, in Portugal), I believe that cork
bark for sparkling wine was hand cut into sheets, laminated together,
then the stopper carved from those laminated blocks. For a wine under
pressure, the rings of the cork bark need to be at right angles to the
pressure. This is not the case with still wine corks. If you look at
the ends of a natural still wine cork, you can usually discern the tree
rings. The discs that are now glued on the end of a Champagne cork are
cut parallel with the tree rings. It's a little harder to see, but the
rings would be visible on a sparkling cork disc from the side. They are
less permeable this way. The finest stoppers may even have 3 of these
discs glued to the end. Very expensive. The finest quality cork bark
is reserved for the discs for sparkling wine corks. If you want to get
into some of the minutia of cork, check out the Cork Quality Council
website. The CQC is an industry association dedicated to educating
wineries & consumers about natural cork. It was actually formed in
order to compel the cork producers to address the TCA problems relating
to natural cork, and to help the wine producers develop quality control
procedures and good corking practices. It's a little off topic (not
much on sparkling wine corks), but interesting for those who wish an
understanding of natural wine cork.

http://www.corkqc.com/index.html

-Bruce

>
> http://www.corkqc.com/index.html
>
> -Bruce

Very interesting - Thanks for the link! And they finally found
something to do in Forestville, eh? :-)

I have noticed that all of the mid to premium Portugese wines have the
nicest corks. First choice, I guess...

Ronin wrote:
>>
>> http://www.corkqc.com/index.html
>>
>> -Bruce
>
> Very interesting - Thanks for the link! And they finally found
> something to do in Forestville, eh? :-)

Cute little town. Wine being made there.

>
> I have noticed that all of the mid to premium Portugese wines have the
> nicest corks. First choice, I guess...
>
I think it's an economic phenomenon. Finally the Portuguese wine
producers are getting the respect, and achieving the quality, that may
have eluded them for so long. In other words, they are making better
wine, getting higher prices, an can afford the better quality packaging
materials. Currency exchange has an effect, as well. Quality cork goes
to the highest bidder, be you Portuguese, Italian, Ozzie, ......

-Bruce