Wine bottle corks are a vital part of the food and beverage industry. High quality commercial or custom wine corks keep wine fresh and help the wine retain its subtle flavors. It's important when you buy wine corks to learn how to use them to preserve and maintain the beverages you sell.

Before you buy wine corks for sale, you need to learn about the different kinds of wine corks, how they help preserve the wine and other technical specifications about them. Your wine corks education and training should include:

1. Learning how to properly utilize wine corks.

2. Understanding the differences between wooden and plastic wine corks.

3. Learning about wine cork crafts and alternative wine cork uses.

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Find training information about the basics of wine corks

Running a business that utilizes wine and beverages, it's important to know about wine corks and learn how to handle problems like cracked corks or corks that fall into their bottles. Learn about the history of wine corks to better understand their function, and learn about decorative wine corks and how they improve the wine experience and your sales.

I recommend: Learn how wine corks and personalized wine corks are produced at M.A. Silva. Join its newsletter to receive pertinent news about the wine cork industry. Cork Supply USA offers a guide to using and caring for promotional wine corks that will teach you how to store and use them correctly.

Use training materials from industry organizations to learn how wooden and plastic wine corks differ

There are many differences between wooden and plastic wine corks, and it's important to know them in order to make an educated decision about which kind to buy for your beverages. Learn about the benefits or drawbacks that each can have, and how these could help or hinder your business.

I recommend: Cork Supply USA explains the benefits of natural wine corks versus plastic wine corks. The Cork Quality Council teaches you how the use of natural wooden corks instead of plastic wine corks can still be a sustainable practice and not harmful to the environment.

Learn about wine corks technical aspects and their affect on the environment

In addition to corking bottles and keeping beverages fresh, damaged or used wine corks have other many other industrial applications. Many companies offer businesses opportunities to resell or recycle used corks. Learn about wine cork recycling and how it can benefit your business while making your operations greener.

I recommend: Packaging Digest provides a guide to how you can recycle your business's used wine corks. Amorim is one of the largest natural wine cork producers in the world. Read its downloadable cork tech sheets to help you decipher which corks will work best with for your business and get further information about cork recycling and environmental issues.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Customized wine corks, featuring the name of your business, can be a great networking tool. Research community events that you can donate wine corks to in order to get your business recognized.

Most wine makers use wine corks to seal their wine bottles until a consumer is ready to drink the wine. You may not be aware of the wide variety of wholesale wine corks there are on the market today. You can purchase many types of natural corks, imprinted corks and synthetic corks.

You can personalize your wine corks in nearly any way you wish. You can have your wine corks imprinted with information about your company. On the other hand, if you want wine corks imprinted with a design of leaves or grapes, for example, you can easily find a wine cork distributor to fill this need.

1. Shop for the traditional, natural wine corks that are preferred by most winemakers.

2. Use customized wine corks to boost sales and increase your product's popularity.

3. Compare the benefits and drawbacks of natural wine corks and synthetic ones. Explore the reasons some wine makers prefer synthetic corks.

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Shop for natural wholesale wine corks

You can find a wide variety of plain and imprinted wine corks for your wine. The most common choice of winemakers is the natural wine cork. You can find a variety of sizes and types to meet your needs.

I recommend: Cork Supply USA offers a wide range of natural wine bottle corks. Browse the selection from Portocork, which includes Twin Top Closures. Compare their choices with the wine corks sold by Amorim.

Boost your wine's popularity with customized wine corks

Order customized wine corks printed with the name of your company, contact information or other information. These personalized wine corks can help your wine stand out from other brands.

I recommend: The Widget Manufacturing Company offers customized wine corks. You can also purchase custom wine corks from Jelinek Cork Group. Jelinek can print on wood corks and emboss both wood and plastic top corks.

Consider the benefits of synthetic wine corks versus natural ones

Some winemakers prefer synthetic wine corks over natural ones because they eliminate the risk of cork taint, which ruins the wine. However, remember that you should only use synthetic wine corks to cork bottles of wine that are for quick consumption.

I recommend: Nomacorc offers various synthetic corks for those who prefer not to use natural wine corks. You can purchase synthetic wine corks in custom colors, with custom printing or with a chamfered edge. You can also purchase synthetic corks from E.C. Kraus.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Before purchasing wine corks, remember to check the product specifications for the recommended life of the cork. Some wine corks are only appropriate for wine that's meant for consumption within two years, while others can protect wine for much longer than that.

If you've just started to look for wine corks for your business, you may want some help with key terms. Sure, it's relatively easy to figure out the difference between natural wine corks and synthetic wine corks. But what about colmated wine corks, agglomerate wine corks and twin top wine corks? How will each of these corks impact your product's branding, sales and quality? Wine corks key terms can help you figure out the answers.

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Natural wine corks

Natural wine corks are the most popular type of wine cork, because they will let the wine mature in the bottle over a long period of time. Natural corks are cut from specially selected corkwood, then washed sterilized, inspected and branded.

I recommend: To view pictures of natural wine corks and to read much more about the process used to create them, visit Stonehaus Winery.

Ice wine natural corks

Ice wine natural corks are specialty corks made from natural corkwood. They are smaller than regular corks, so they can fit the narrow neck of ice wine bottles. Also, the treatment on them allows them to withstand the high sugar content of ice wine.

I recommend: To see a picture of an ice wine natural cork and to get more information, check out Jelinek Group and scroll down to the "Ice Wine Natural Corks" heading.

Colmated wine corks

In colmated wine corks, manufacturers fill the pores of natural corkwood with a combination of fine cork grains and resins. This helps reduce the cost of the cork. You may hear colmated corks called pore-filled wine corks.

I recommend: To view examples of colmated wine corks and to learn more about them, visit The Widget Manufacturing Company.

Agglomerate wine corks

Agglomerate wine corks use a composition of clean waste product from natural wine cork production. Cork grain is the name for this composition. Agglomerate wine corks are popular for their low cost.

I recommend: To learn more about the technical uses of agglomerate wine corks, and to see a picture of one, check out Mountain Homebrew.

Twin-top wine corks

Twin-top wine corks, sometimes called double-disc corks, are a combination of agglomerated cork and natural cork. The agglomerated cork is in the center of the wine cork and the natural cork is on the ends. This combination helps give twin-top corks a consistent density.

I recommend: If you would like to read more about twin-top wine corks, visit Portocork America.

Synthetic wine corks

Manufacturers use modern synthetic materials to create synthetic wine corks. These corks seal well and don't harbor bacteria. Additionally, you can find them in a wide variety of colors.

I recommend: Avalon Wine has an article about the rise of the synthetic cork trend.

Beverage bottlers, restaurant owners, wine servers and connoisseurs carefully select the wine they work with. One may think that the wine carries its own superiority. The choice of cork used is just as important as the type of wine. Cork choices include:

1. Traditional wine corks made of natural or synthetic materials

2. Decorative wine corks to make an impression

3. Custom wine corks including personalized wine corks

A glance at wine corks types and styles reveals the benefits and recommended uses of the corks. The type of cork used is determined by a set of criteria. This choice takes into consideration how long the wine will probably be in the bottle before it is opened and the type of wine and bottle selected.

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Understand the types of wine bottle corks by their makeup

Corks are made from actual cork or from synthetic material. Synthetic materials are increasing in popularity because of their non-reliance on natural resources, thus hindering the fear of exhausting the supply of natural cork. The corks made of natural cork can be fabricated as a single piece of cork or as pieces glued together. They are still widely manufactured in a variety of shapes.

I recommend: The wine anorak explores the range of wine corks available, commenting on attributes of each one. Look further into the types of corks at Jelinek Group.

Determine the best wine corks to use for your needs

With so many different cork types to consider, how do you know which one is right for a particular wine? The array of criteria for using each type of cork certainly helps focus the options to make the selection process easier. A wine cork distributor can supply you with information on the wine corks for sale and which would be appropriate options for your needs.

I recommend: The Guide To Choosing Corks at Brewery Lane is a handy reference for narrowing down cork possibilities. For advice on how to choose the best cork, go to Amorim.

Seek out non-traditional or alternative options for wine bottle corks

Wholesale wine corks can be personalized with your business information and used for promotional purposes. They can also be customized in design boasting an image related to the brand or retailer's business. For the environmentally conscious, corks that are made from recycled material make a great alternative option.

I recommend: The Widget Mfg. Co. showcases information on many alternatives to the traditional wine cork. Examples of custom imprints, shapes and sizes of bottle corks can be seen at Bracksco Wine Nook. They specialize in unique and imprinted corks and stoppers.