IN THE WORLD OF WINE, AN ITALIAN SUCCESS IN FRANCE: IT’S NOT A FAMOUS LABEL, BUT A CORK WITH THE “SOUL”, FROM THE PIEDMONT REGION. NOW IN OVER 100 WINERIES IN THE PRESTIGIOUS BOURGOGNE REGION

In the world of wine, there’s an Italian who’s had success in France, in one of the country’s most famous regions, Bourgogne, to be exact. It is not a famous “made in Italy” wine label, though, but a cork, a very special cork.
The creators of this special cork are the Guala Seal Group from Alessandria, an Italian company that has been able to succeed in the “heart” of one of the sanctuaries of French winemaking with its corking method that substitutes cork-wood with technological innovation and geniality. It can be considered a cork with a “soul”, born out of a simple yet revolutionary project. Created with a structure that has, well, a “soul”, it is a synthetic cork that completely avoids the risks of the loss of elasticity as happens in normal corks, which consequently allows more oxygen to enter into the bottle, and is the main cause for its use for wines limited to a shorter ageing process.
The fact that over 100 wineries in the Bourgogne region ( from Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, owner at Vosne-Romanée, the smallest French denomination - La Romanée, "appellation" of 0,85 hectares - to Olivier Leflaive a Puligny-Montrachet, from Domaine des Lambrays a Morey Saint Denis to Domaine d'Ardhuy a Corgoloin in the Côte de Nuits, just to name a few) have chosen to experiment with this revolutionary cork, many of whom have already converted to using it ( Domaine du Comte Senard, Aloxe-Corton, Capitain-Gagnerot, Ladoix Serrigny, Frédéric Magnien, Morey Saint Denis, Domaine Collet, Chablis), and the fact that they are studying its results throughout the ageing process, demonstrates a success for this project that proposes itself as a “third” alternative, between classical cork-wood corks and synthetic corks.
The Gs-Elite, which is what the cork with “soul” has been named, is made up of three principal components: a chassis, that guarantees elastic memory and the adherence of its mechanical properties, the body, with its properties that make it impermeable to gases (particularly oxygen), and a “shield”, which is in contact with the wine itself and protection against any interaction with other elements. And to these elements, a rather elegant covering has been added for the final touch. Guala launched the testing of the Gs-Elite in 1999, with the participation of over 350 wineries in Italy and around the globe, and subsequently obtained international patent rights. The enological trials have been certified by the Italian laboratory, Laboratorio Enosis, directed by enologist Donato Lanati, and by the prestigious French laboratory, Institut Coopératif du Vin, in Montpellier.

The different types of corking… market quotas
The number of wine bottles that are consumed annually total 17 billion. 7,5 billion bottles use real cork-wood corks (equal to 44%), 4.5 billion are sealed with agglomerated corks (26%), 2.5 billion with technical cork (15%), 500 million with cork-wood base (3%). As for alternative corks: aluminum corks seal 1 billion bottles (6%), and other synthetic corks also count 1 billion bottles (6%) . Thus, cork-wood corks are used in 85% of all bottles and alternative materials in 15 %.

Guala; the company that continuously develops research and innovation …
The accord with the Politecnico di Turin Pioneers in using synthetic materials, the Guala Group was formed in 1954 and specialized in highly innovative packaging. The company’s philosophy is focused on research and developing new products that respond to the ever increasing demands of the market. This long commitment has also been attested by Guala with the institution of its head office at the Politecnico di Torino.
The safety seals for liquor, which Guala was the first in the world to patent, was its first international success: about 2/3 of the seals used today are made by Guala. There are also new products to add to the list, like the toothpaste doser, the spray-gun nozzle (Guala Dispensing), and the European development of flexible and resealable containers (Guala Pack). The other companies under the group are Robino & Galandrino (capsule and “cage” producers for the wine market), Bisio Progetti (prints), and Safta (flexible packaging). After decisive company reorganizing at the end of the 1990’s, that gave new impulse for business development, the Guala Group now claims earnings of 200 million euros, with over 1,000 employees in 8 production plants in locations in Italy and the world.
Franco Pallini