Corks that are extracted directly from the cork plank - are 100% natural.

Type of cork stopper to be used
The natural cork stoppers of a better quality are used in top quality wines and wines that are going to be stored for a long period of time. The remaining cork stoppers, mainly the colmated and agglomerated corks are used in wines of more rapid consumption.

Dimensions of cork stoppers
The dimensions of the cork stoppers have to respect the following criteria:

Wine type – for wines that are going to be stored for a long period of time, we recommend cork stoppers of a length of 45 and/or 49mm and of a diameter of 24mm, whereas for more demanding ones, specially effervescent wines, we recommend corks of a diameter of 25 or 26mm.

The dimension of the bottleneck – the cork stopper has to be dimensioned according to the profile of the bottleneck, as the conic shape of the bottle, conditions the length of the cork stopper. The diameter of the cork stopper has to be about 6mm above the average diameter of the bottleneck.

Type of surface treatment – this will have to be applied depending on the indications received from the winemaker regarding the characteristics of the wine (type of stopper used and room temperature conditions).

Handling and storage of cork stoppers – after having passed through the surface treatment, the cork stoppers cannot be exposed to temperatures above 25º C and under 10º C, because of the risk of alteration in the surface treatment. Also the relative humidity level has to be kept between 50 and 70%.

Bottling – the bottleneck must be dry in the moment of corking; we recommend a head space of 15-20mm between the cork and the wine in order to avoid that possible thermal dilatation of the wine creates high internal pressure in the bottle. The corking machine should not compress the cork more than 1,5mm above the diameter of the bottleneck mouth. On the other hand, the cork stopper cannot be compressed by more the one third of its diameter. It is fundamental to maintain the corking machine to the standards recommended by the manufacturer to ensure optimum insertion of the cork, specially the corker jaws, that should not work at excessive speed, in order to prevent clamps, folds and even cuts in the cork allowing the dimensional recovery of the cork and thus preventing the immediate leakage of the wine. Therefore after bottling we recommend keeping the bottle in an upright position for at least 10 minutes prior to storage.

Transport and bottle storage – the increase of chamber pressure within the bottle caused by inconstant temperature levels, may result in wine leakage or even expulse the cork. We therefore advise to transport the wine in an upright position.