Cork Production

The cork is not only an extraordinary raw material from which many different products, as the cork stoppers ,can be obtained , but it is also the forest, with is astonishing biodiversity, its capacity to absorb huge quantities of CO² and to contain the desertification process. The cork is environment and landscape, a real lively socioeconomic system, and our facility is one of the leaders. Molinas Group has always defended these values, so that this extraordinary richness could be inherited by the future generations.

Everything starts in the uncontaminated Sardinian cork oak stands, where, in the period between May and August, our workers, guardians of an old profession, with the only help of an axe, harvest the cork bark from the cork oak trees. The so called “virgin cork”, is harvested when the cork oak tree is already 25/30 years old, and it is ground to obtain insulating cork boards. The cork bark used to manufacture the cork stoppers is the so called „female or gentle cork“, harvested 10 years after the first cork bark stripping. After the harvesting, the cork bark is stacked in the courtyards at open-air, where the atmospheric agents help and favour its seasoning, essential for the following manufacturing steps. During this stage, that last about 12 months, the cork bark is subjected to a first selection according to quality and thickness, and, in the meantime, all the planks affected by the yellow stain, one of the causes of the cork taint, are rejected.

After the first selection, the cork bark is boiled both to remove tannins and other impurities and to improve its elasticity. After another selection, the production of the cork stoppers can start. A very long process, in which further steps of processing and selection alternate, and technology interacts with the value of the human learning. This is the path that a raw cork plank follows before be transformed in a cork stopper with perfect organoleptic and mechanical properties. One of the final steps of the cork stoppers processing will be its customization for every winery and wine. The cork bark wastes are ground in special mills, and the obtained cork grains, after further selections and treatments, are used for the manufacturing of the technical and innovative cork stoppers. Together with the classical and technical cork stoppers, since some years Molinas is producing also the microagglomerated cork stoppers. Thanks to the modern treatments applied to the microagglomerate, the manufactured cork stoppers assure excellent performances and guarantee the organoleptic features of every kind of wine.

PROCESSING