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A Good Year For Wine…Cork Testing

Product News Monday, February 27, 2012: Mecmesin Limited

A specially engineered test system, from Mecmesin, is helping a cork manufacturer measure cork extraction strength in order to optimise their products.

 

Oeneo Bouchage is one of the world’s leading cork manufacturers. Wishing to measure the cork extraction force from Champagnes and sparkling wines bottles, the company worked in partnership with Mecmesin to develop a specific motorised cork testing system, which ensured constant test speeds, consistent accuracy and improved operator safety over manual-based testers.

 

It was crucial for the company to identify cork extraction strength in order for them to optimise their cork products to enable easier opening by consumers, yet retain a good quality seal to avoid wine taint and minimise exploding corks.

 

The system, known as the ‘Combi Cork Extraction Tester’, operates by applying a ‘twist-action’ to the cork, held within a special grip, to release the cork from the bottle, whilst the bottle is simultaneously lowered away from it. This enables the system to identify the release torque required to extract the cork.

 

However, with a simple changeover of the loadcell housing, the system can also measure straightforward cork pull out forces from still wine bottles. This added versatility means, with one system, cork manufacturers are able to assess corks made for different types of wines, and wine producers can evaluate multiple types of end product before it reaches the consumer.

 

The system incorporates a number of specially designed features, ensuring straightforward routine testing with excellent accuracy of results. These include special user-friendly grips to hold both the bottle and cork securely in position, plus a drip tray and other safeguards, which provide protection to the unit from any accidental spillage. Mecmesin’s Universal Display records measurements before exporting them to a PC, printer or datalogger, for further analysis.

 

Dominique Rabiot, R& D Manager from Oeneo Bouchage comments, “The Combi Cork Extraction Tester helped us to simplify measurements because it is easy to set up. This system provides consistent reproducible and safe measurements, without any risk of injury to the operator. Therefore, we can establish valuable opening torque specifications, which are currently used for quality control measurements and development of new products.”

 

For more information visit Mecmesin’s website www.mecmesin.com.