Nomacorc

France Narbonne

Nomacorc

Reconsider the brand Bordeaux

Belgian businessman and wine connoisseur Gert Noël got the idea to create an alternative wine closure at a family party, after opening several bottles of wine that had been ruined by cork taint.

Applying more than 40 years of experience manu­facturing products derived from the cellular extrusion of synthetic materials, Noël and his son Marc decided to create a wine closure based on foam extrusion technology. The team spent 6 years in research and development before introducing the first Nomacorc closure. Major international wineries quickly saw the product's potential as a solution to the pervasive problem of cork taint in wine.
Since then, Nomacorc has become world's largest producer of alternative wine closures, providing winemakers, wine industry professionals and consumers with the peace of mind that their wines will be enjoyed exactly as the winemaker intended.

Interview of Yvan Chaussard,
Nomacorc sales manager for the French market

SommelierS International: Tell me about the origin of Nomacorc.

Yvan Chaussard: Nomacorc is a Belgian company created by Marc Noël in 1999 and built on a know-how called co-extrusion manufacturing process. Each closure consists of a foamed inner core layer and a flexible outer skin. This production method creates closures that are highly uniform and yield consistent oxygen transfer rates. They look and feel like a natural cork, while addressing the problems of cork taint, breakage, crumbling, and inconsistent wine preservation. The company has three factories: one in North Carolina, in Zebulon, another in Thimister-Clermont, near Liege (Belgium), and the last since October 2007, in Shandong Province, northeast China.

SI: During the past 10 years, what was the evolution of the company, particularly in terms of cork?
YC: In 1999, when the company was created, the sector had many problems with cork-based stoppers (cork taste, orga­noleptic alterations). Nomacorc’s dedication to quality and innovation as well as the scientific study of post-bottling chemistry and oxygen management led to the establishment of state-of-the-art sensory laboratories and the implementation of a cutting-edge technology allowing to create products of a very high homogeneity, which protect the wine and guarantee its gustative continuity from bottle to bottle.
The company very fast turned to oenology since the corking is an oenological act. Of this science, we know generally many things. However, on post-bottling concerns, very little information is available in the oenological bibliography. It was thus necessary to recruit oenologists' team and to set up research works. Nomacorc has built strategic relationships with world-renowned institutions such as the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI); University of California at Davis Department of Viticulture and Oenology; the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), France; and the Geisenheim Institute, Germany in order to better understand the post-bottling chemical reactions of the wine. We are now able to tailor permeability to a sensory profile thanks to the launch of a new range called Select Series.

SI: Tell me about the differences between Nomacorc’s and other synthetic corks.
YC:In the industry of synthetic closure, you have three technologies: the first is called the injection-molding; the second is the mono-extrusion and the third co-

extrusion. Nomacorc produces corks made only by co-extrusion

SI: What is our latest innovation?
YC: Our latest innovation is the launch for a little more than a year of a new family of 4 stoppers called Select Series, built on a new concept that has no counterpart on the market.
Integrating science and art, the Select Series closures have a visual appearance and texture almost indistinguishable from natural cork. The ends of the Select Series closures have a bark-like roughness and chamfered edge achieved using advanced cutting technology. Using a proprietary process that can replicate more detailed artwork than the traditional fire-branding used on natural corks, the Select Series are the first synthetic closures that can be end-printed. But it is on the technical plan that the innovation is real. We have 4 corks, thus 4 different permeabilities: the Select 700 which is the most permeable, the Select 500, the Select 300 and the Select 100 which is the tightest of the range. All the corks are for the same price so that the corking remains an oenological act, and that the only criterion of choice is the permeability and not the cost.
To advise at best the customers, Nomacorc developed 2 tools. The first one is called NomaSense, it is an analyser specially conceived to rapidly measure the total oxygen contents in wine during the bottling. The second, NomaSelector, resulting from our research works, is a decision-making tool. This innovative software uses a scientific model to recommend a closure tailored for a specific wine, enabling winemakers to determine the optimum closure for their wines to age in the most consistent, fault-free manner.
First, the wine grower is driven over about 20 questions that take into account, for example, the varietal (are we on an oxidative, reducing varietal?), the technical route, the target product (is this a wine that will be consumed within two years or will age ten years?), storage and distribution. From the collected data, the software uses an algorithm to determine the adequate cork from the Nomacorc Select Series range. To take a concrete example, if you have a Sauvignon, you need to keep its aromatic freshness, so you will turn preferably to a tight stopper and thus, in our range, rather to a Select 300 or a Select 100.

SI: The positioning of your customers (customer properties, wine domains…)
YC: So far Nomacorc corked wines situated in a price range from €3 to 8. The target of the Select Series family is rather higher value wines. Some have already trusted us, we are lucky to work with prestigious properties such as Chateau Brown in Pessac-Léognan, Chateau Turcaud in the Entre-Deux-Mers, Domain Coapé in Jurançon, Domain Labarthe in Gaillac; properties in Provence as Chateau Minuty and Chateau Saint André de Figuières; in Crozes Hermitage Yann Chave, in Alsace Seppi Landmann and to finish, I mention Clos des Cordeliers in Saumur Champigny.

SI: What is the ageing potential of wines with Nomacorc closures?
YC: With Select Series, Nomacorc has the will to block now higher value-added wines, up to a sale price of €30, wines for aging between 5 and 10 years, particularly in Bordeaux, on Appellation wines, as Côtes de Castillon, Côtes de Bourg, Côtes de Blaye …

SI: The position of Nomacorc facing sustainable development

YC: Nomacorc is fortunate to have a clean industry without rejections in the atmosphere. Compared to other industries, in particular that of the cork, we are little consumer of water and energy. Furthermore, by its composition, the co-

extruded cork Nomacorc is recycled and recyclable. When we say recycled, it means that all waste is recycled for the production of other manufactured products, plastic pallets, for example, or baby car seats. It is recyclable since we have a partnership with the Federation 'A cork, a smile', which groups several associations and has national coverage. It is in charge of collecting synthetic corks for recycling.

Dominique Peyral-Bon

Nomacorc France
74, avenue Paul Sabatier
11100 Narbonne • France
Tél. : +33 (0) 4 68 45 88 25
www.nomacorc.com