Please send us an e-mail about pricing or give us a call at 1-800-694-cork.

Top Quality and Service

• We consistently exceed standard industry production practice
• Ganau is known for responsiveness, quick turnarounds, and close attention to every detail
• Our dedication to quality and service has earned the loyalty of our customers – winemakers who want the best

Zero-Waste Process

• We recycle cork waste material into insulation products
  
• Not even the cork dust is wasted - we burn it for energy

Vertical Integration

• From the forest through delivery, we control materials and production at every step
• This enables exceptional quality control with advanced GCMS testing for purity at each stage in production

Technology Leaders

• In 1995, we introduced our TF (TrattamentoFisico),the industry’s first non-chemical process fordeep-cleaning unfinished corks
• Ganau is again leading the way with GanauRevolution —another major advance in decreasing cork taint.

Sustainable Practices

• Cork is a renewable, biodegradable and recyclable material
• We sensitively manage cork forests and harvesting, helping to maintain a keystone species vital to unique, richly bio-diverse Mediterranean habitats

 What makes Ganau Revolution more effective against taint?

Advanced Technology

Ganau designed the Rain Autoclave to purify cork planks with super-heated water droplets as well as steam. 

Higher Temperatures

This non-immersion system allows cleaning at higher temperatures (up to 120°C) than other boiling methods.

More Cleaning Power

Hotter water means higher pressure to drive purifying steam even deeper within the cork.

Fresher Water

The water used for cleaning is drained after each batch of cork. (Less advanced boiling systems merely filter and recirculate cleaning water.)

No Cross Contamination

Use of fresh, pre-heated water for each batch eliminates any risk of cross-contamination from earlier batches

Water Conservation

Our process also saves water, using 20 percent of the amount required by immersion boiling systems.

The Ganau Advantage:

With total, end-to-end control of our cork production process, Ganau is able to go above and beyond standard industry practice at every step. We make the extra effort to ensure top quality and take every possible precaution against the development of cork taint. Our process combines state-of the-art technology with hand cutting and inspection by skilled workers—an important investment in quality.

 The Forest

• Source cork only from forests we own or from selected high quality growers
• We never buy cork planks or unfinished corks from secondary suppliers

Stabilizing

• To avoid contact with soil organisms, store raw cork planks on plastic pallets on sloped, cement floor
• Wait a full 8 months before processing, so cork has time to stabilize

High Pressure Purification

• Apply our proprietary Ganau Revolutionprocess to purifythe raw cork planks with high-temperature, high-pressure deep cleaning before corks are formed
• Our process is superior to traditional methods of simply immersing cork in boiling water, and to newer methods that risk cross-contamination of cork by recirculating filtered boiling wate

Hand Cutting

• Cut cork planks into strips quickly--within 24 hours after boiling--so molds that can lead to TCA have no time to grow
• Clean strips of bark and woody material, exposing the interior to inspection
• Hand-cut strips into squares and hand-cut squares into corks
• Hand-cutting allows meticulous quality control by skilled workers

Deep Steam Cleaning

• Use our proprietary Trattamento Fisicoprocess tosteam-clean unfinished corks, discs, and granules – an extra purifying step
• TF was the first process to use an autoclave for deepsteam-cleaning, a more penetrating cleansing process than other cleaning technologies

Individual Molding (Agglomerated Corks)

• Individually mold corks at high temperature in an individual cup (not in blocks) to allow uniform pressure, more consistent density, and lower volume of glue
• Bond granules with a neutral bonding agent that meets FDA standards for human consumption.
• Before molding, granules are cleaned, sorted, and selected for uniformity
• Individual molding produces tighter-grained, better performing corks than the cheaper and more common extrusion process
• Careful sorting and grinding of granules eliminates the woody matter and inconsistency found in extruded corks

Completion & Inspection

• Rinse away dust and production residues
• Wash in a cleansing solution; use our advanced drying technology to remove moisture from corks immediately
• For agglomerated corks, glue discs to body
• Inspect for quality, both electronically and by hand

Branding

• Fire-brand winery logo onto corks (unless client prefers ink)
• Fire-branding is the cleanest, most neutral imprinting process
• We offer ink-printing upon request
  

Lubrication and Shipping

• Lubricate corks to create a tight closure and allow easy extraction
• Our proprietary system produces perfectly even and consistent lubrication