Yes, today, 18 July 2026, we can officially declare this year’s cork harvest completed.
As shown in this video, the cork has now been carefully stacked and is ready to receive the much-needed sunshine. During the coming months, together with the cold and completely dry winter conditions, this natural seasoning process will allow certain compounds to gradually disappear from the cork structure. The result is cork that is sufficiently neutral, so that compounds such as TCA, pyrazines, and other potential sensory contaminants are no longer perceptible. Combined with our company’s unwavering commitment to full traceability and rigorous quality control, this process enables us to produce cork stoppers that are among the safest available and that offer the lowest possible risk of organoleptic deviations in wine.
In recent years, anticipating a possible recovery in market demand, we accumulated larger cork stocks than usual. After carefully analysing the current market situation, we believe that the most sensible strategy for this year is to reduce our inventories of both raw cork and finished stoppers. Even so, we are confident that we will be able to meet the requirements of our regular customers, particularly those who reserve their expected needs well in advance.
As today is Saturday, the yard is naturally quiet. However, under the covered area, you can clearly see that we are fully engaged in transforming the 2025 cork harvest into finished cork stoppers.The video also shows several batches of cork reserved for special-size stoppers, including a small quantity of thin cork intended for premium cork stoppers used in high-end spirits.
We sincerely hope that the difficult conditions currently affecting both the cork and wine industries will soon come to an end, and that in twelve months’ time we will once again see this yard filled with cork, as has happened so many times before.
BREAKING NEWS
At the end of Friday’s working day, our Technical Director informed me that, as every year, all incoming truckloads of cork from this year’s harvest have undergone two independent TCA analyses.
The historic news is that, for the first time in 26 years, every single result in this initial round of testing has been < 2 ng/L of TCA.
Valdepeñas, 18 July 2026
Francisco González Sánchez.
CEO of Gruart la Mancha, S.A.