Nardone Baker Wines has thoroughly researched the cork industry to find producers who can deliver quality corks to ensure our wines reach you in excellent condition. 

We believe the romance of natural cork must be matched by its reliability and that is why we select high quality cork to compliment our range:

The corks we have selected are neither colmated nor agglomerate - our corks are a far superior grade to these more common types of manufactured closures.

General cork information

Natural corks have been used across the Nardone Baker range. They are whole, natural wine corks finished with a regular treatment to create a clear surface coating which aids in extraction. Our production partners are ISO 9002 Quality Assurance Accredited and are continually engaged in research and development to improve the quality and consistency of this natural product. If seasonal variations result in lesser quality cork harvests, our partners will refuse to supply material until conditions have improved.

Colmated corks are usually Reference 4 to 6 which have many holes, voids and defects. These corks are then coated with a powder like surface coating which attempts to fill in the holes on inferior grade corks. The corks usually have a powdery look about them and sometimes are slightly pink in colouring. The tell tale sign for spotting colmated corks is that the colmate coating often crumbles away leaving floating particles in the wine. Many European winemakers use this cork.

Agglomerate corks are made from cork grannules which are also used in cork tiles and cork platform shoes. The grannules are mixed with glue and punched into corks. Some of these corks are sold as simple agglomerates and others have discs glued to each end. These are graded as Technical corks. These corks are more widely used among our domestic competitors on commercial style wines designed to be consumed with 12 to 18 months.