The most prestigious Spanish magazine in the country, La Semana Vitivinícola, attended to one of the “saca” this summer and published an article entitled “In search of the perfection in the cork stoppers” that talks about the debates between the different types of stoppers for wine (plastic or screw cap) in France, for example. This argument would make no sense if all manufacturers offer Gruart La Mancha safety ratios, which offers guarantees of 99.9% in the effectiveness of their cork stoppers.
La Semana Vitivinícola was able to know in situ the traceability control that our company does, since the cork is extracted from the trees and the lot number that is assigned at that moment will keep it in all phases of its process. This allows GLM sells about 30 million cork stoppers per year and that next year will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Our CEO, Mr. Gonzalez, said the most serious defect for a cork stopper is TCA contamination, therefore to eliminate this “enemy”, Gruart accomplishes a process even more demanding that the Systecode rules ask for.
In this way, we will get that the cork extracted from the trees of the fields of Extremadura, Andalusia and the foothills of the Montes de Toledo during the months of July and August arrives in less than 48 hours to the courtyard of the factory, thus avoiding contamination.
Once in the courtyard (which surface is made of concrete and with a system to collect the water to ensure the absence of moisture) the cork sheets are piled up carefully in piles that can not exceed six meters wide and with a distance of a minimum of two meters between them.
Here the cork will cure in the open between 18 and 24 months, with the help of the dry continental climate in our area which is an advantage to Portugal and Catalonia.
After this process the sheets are boiled in two modern stainless steel boilers and are then stored in a covered and ventilated place.
One of the distinguishing features in the Gruart La Mancha process is the change of water in his boilers. Systecode states that the water could stay for a week and any amount of boiling provided that no 48 hour stop, in Gruart we make between 10 and 12 boiling per day and we change the water daily.
At least 20 days, the cork will be subjected to a second boiling, it will stand and will be punched. The sheets are classified into two grades, one to produce up to 54 mm stoppers long and the other for shorter stoppers.
The manufactured stoppers are stored in a warehouse with controlled temperature and moisture, their dimensions are fixed and defined, they are selected, washed, branded with ink or fire, dusted, smoothed and vacuum bagged with SO2 in packaging of 1,000. A report of the laboratory is the last step that must pass these stoppers (which are distributed to over 12 countries) before they are marketed.
An investment project of almost 2 million
In July 2011, Gruart La Mancha will celebrate his 25th anniversary. For this reason the company is planning an investment project which will change the image and will bring up to date his processes, installing laser branding machines and extending the laboratory facilities. All with the goal of overcoming the 50 million stoppers sold per year that the company sets as the maximum current production capacity.
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