dmcintosh Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Greetings! I'm looking for feedback on cork suppliers. I'm having a difficult time getting any of the companies I've found to get back to me. Does anyone have a favorite supplier? reasonably priced? I have found one supplier but it looks like they want more for the cork than we are paying for our bottle? is this normal? I appreciate any advice -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beauport Bob Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Plenty of past info on this in the forum search. By "cork" do you mean the actual "cork" or closures in general? And also, what would be the product you are using this for? We all have opinions on this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrEwing Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I have had an extrewmely good experience with Sandra Lopez of Amorim & Irmaos SA in Portugal, Email: slopes.raro@amorim.com - My quantities of Bar Tops have been in the 1 Gross (244) range and less - They have no aversions to small quantities and charge based on per/1000 corks regardless of how small my orders were, so the costs are pennies per Bartop. They also accommodate my special top colors and provide about 50 + samples for each change I requested till we got to the color I wanted. She is great to work with and very responsive. Please give her my regards Dick Garofalo Company Info Amorim & Irmãos, S.A. (U.I. RARO) - Rua Central da Vergada - 4536-909 Vergada - PORTUGAL Phone: + 351 22 747 0430 - Fax: +351 22 747 0421 - Mobile: +351 96 322 9938 Skype: sandra.lopes.raro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Tate Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Greetings! I'm looking for feedback on cork suppliers. I'm having a difficult time getting any of the companies I've found to get back to me. Does anyone have a favorite supplier? reasonably priced? I have found one supplier but it looks like they want more for the cork than we are paying for our bottle? is this normal? I appreciate any advice -D I have had a very good experience with Jelinek Cork. I work with Fay Stallan at 905-827-4666 x34. Very knowledgeable and responsible to all of our closure needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morey Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Hey D, I used to sell corks for a living but moved on to other things (barrels and oak alternatives). I still buy corks for my own wines and currently buy them from ACI (Alvaro Coelho e Irmaos; www.acicorkusa.com) and heartily recommend them to clients of mine. They have always worked with small(er) and distant clients, and that's important to me. Plus, their corks have always come out clean. Here's my advice on buying cork: - request samples from the bale where your corks will come from (not the generic, cleaned up samples); preferably, pull those samples yourself - do your soak tests and make sure they smell good; grade them - buy your corks and then compare the grading to the samples you received and do another soak test to make sure you're happy with what you got; if you're not, make sure that your sales order allows you to reject the lot - ask for documentation on your particular bale and make sure that it's not more than one year old; QA reports should be specific to your bale and not to the general harvest year or forest they came from - personally, I don't trust the re-humidification process on dry corks but I haven't come across problems because of that, either - keep track of corked wines, complaints from clients, and complaints from your tasting room; two years from now, look back at those data and see if you still want to deal with the company you bought from - if you're getting a cheap/good deal, you're not--there's a problem with those corks I hope that helps. It's extraneous work that we winemakers wish we didn't have to do but, with a dwindling market and salespeople losing commissions, you have to do your due diligence. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorkWest Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 I believe my company, CorkWest, may be the company in question here, and I would like to get any feedback from the forum that you would like to offer. CorkWest, to my knowledge, is the only comoany in the United States assembling bar tops, instead of distributing those from Portugal or Spain. Our pricing, generally, ranges from $0.18-$0.25 for plastic tops depending on customizatio, artwork, size, etc. Our wood tops run from $0.25-$0.40. The top we quoted for Danny was for a whiskey bottle with a large shank (26mm in diameter) with a wood finish. If anyone has received quotes in these sizes (give or take) this would help us greatly. Thank you! Adam Schulz General Manager CorkWest 509-378-8938© Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Action Posted November 6, 2010 Share Posted November 6, 2010 Does anyone know what brand is used on Buffalo Trace products? I just tried opening a bottle, and had the top separate from the cork. I had to use a corkscrew to get the cork out. I'm also researching packaging, and would definitely like to avoid these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaware_phoenix Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 Most wooden bar tops can have this problem especially if the end user moves the wooden top in an up/down or back & forth motion perpendicular to the cork. The cork isn't moving but the top is, and that's a good way to break the glue holding the two together. Not that that is what you did, but that's the most common way to break a bar top. Also, there will be some small percentage of breakage no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Action Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 Yes, it's gotten a wooden bartop and synthetic cork. So are you saying a synthetic top would be less prone to problems? Anyone else have any bartop failures, or brands they'd avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaware_phoenix Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 No, I don't know about plastic bartops as I don't use them. And I don't use synthetic corks so I can't comment there either. Do all of the BT bottles you buy have problems? If yes, there's a problem. But if it happens once in your lifetime, then it's not much of an issue. I use ACI Cork as some others have mentioned and I've had one bartop separate from the cork on me, and I suspect it was half my fault. And I've bought a few thousand of them, and I haven't gotten any customer complaints. In a distillery business, the best rule is to buy the best quality products you can afford. In the grand scheme of things, bartops, even good ones, are quite cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Legate Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I'm not a fan of natural cork anymore. Between the inevitable floaties and disintegration from high proof alcohol, synthetic corks seem like the best way to go for us. SupremeCorq has excellent products and first rate customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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