Comments on: Why Synthetic Corks Are Worth Using

By: Skip O'Neill

Skip O'Neill — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 16:26:00 +0000

My wife has a habit of saving old wine corks. I noticed quite a few synthetic corks in a basket that only have a hole at the end where the cork screw drilled in, while the other end is unblemished. Could someone in a pinch use one of these previously used synthetic corks with the unblemished end face the wine in the bottle?

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Sat, 30 May 2015 15:09:00 +0000

In reply to FreddyC. That's unfortunate. I seems like such a good solution for the home winemaker. I'll probably keep using them as best I can but it would be nice to have a clean way to insert them. -Matt

By: FreddyC

FreddyC — Fri, 29 May 2015 20:50:00 +0000

In reply to Matt Williams. Sorry Matt, there is not one. These corks were designed for an industry that uses a pneumatic corker as standard. They are too hard to compress properly with hand corkers.

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Fri, 29 May 2015 20:04:00 +0000

In reply to FreddyC. Hi FreddyC, thanks for sharing your experience. I did have trouble with the dual lever corker with these closures. Do you know of a corker that does well with the synthetic closures? I'd love to find one so I can insert these with better results. -Matt

By: FreddyC

FreddyC — Fri, 29 May 2015 18:56:00 +0000

I’m the membership director for our local wine club and handle the wine judging event for our county fair. As such, I’ve had a chance to open a lot of bottles of home made wine corked with synthetic corks. Anyone who chooses to use them needs to realize they are not designed to be inserted with a hand corker. Either the one Matt cites or the standard Italian or Portuguese floor models. Typically the leading end of the cork gets bent over inside the bottle and the cork will not go all the way in. It does act as a closure, but is it better than natural cork? I’m not so sure.