ProCork, the Australian closure company that has developed a membrane to use at both ends of wine corks, has recently commissioned its first machine that actually attaches the membrane to the corks themselves. The machine, also developed in Australia, can operate at a rate of 10,000 per hour. Its builders, Scope Machinery, say they can build ten per years to meet demand. Dr Gregor Christie, a food packaging scientist and ProCork’s chief executive officer, has been developing this technology for more than three years. The idea is that ProCork’s membrane can reduce the fear of cork taint, enabling natural cork to be used with confidence in wine and other beverages. According to ProcCork, ‘The technology revolves around a series of membranes applied to each end of the cork that significantly reduces flavour modification and reduces chemicals entering the wine, regulates the passage of oxygen through the cork and retains cork moisture resulting in less cork breakage.’
