Our long time customers know R. Stuart has used glass corks for years, but the 2022 vintage brought changes our way. Get your corkscrews ready, friends!

In 2008, Rob made the decision to use glass corks/closures on our single vineyard and reserve wines. At the time, cork technology was stunted in its advancements, and winemakers far and wide were finding persistent problems with TCA, or cork taint, which affects the quality of a wine. The industry was working hard to remedy the issue, but not in a timeline that aligned with our needs. Additionally, the cork industry and market was facing challenges. While cork advertised itself as a renewable, recyclable product, the facilities to close the loop on that process were not established in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. We were consistently throwing corks directly into the trash, or desperately finding artists and teachers who wanted to repurpose them.

Luckily for us, a former R. Stuart Wine Bar employee had taken a job with a packaging company which specialized in wine related goods. With her newly acquired knowledge of the glass closure, she approached Rob and discussed the benefits of adopting this packaging style.

The glass closures wound up being a savior to our problems.

Produced by a company called Vinolok, these glass corks have a small silicone gasket around the glass stem. When inserted into the bottle, it creates an air-tight, liquid-tight seal, which we then protected with a foil covering. There are a few key benefits of using glass corks which ultimately convinced us to make the move:

  • The air-tight seal serves as a quality guarantee for the wine. Natural cork is a porous product, allowing air to travel in between the cell channels. Glass does the complete opposite, especially with the silicone seal. As oxygen is the enemy of wine, this seal ensures that our wines can be left to age without risk of cork taint, oxygen exposure, or the likes.
  • When it comes to shipping, glass corks gave us another guarantee: the cork won’t pop. As we ship across the country, wines go through various states and their coinciding weather patterns. A bottle may go from temperate Oregon, to below freezing in Minot, North Dakota, to a balmy Florida beach town. That repeated change in temperature can expand and contract the cork and wine, ultimately leading to a natural cork pushing out of the bottle. The glass cork is incapable of popping, and stays flush in the bottle, regardless of temperature.
  • Environmental factors were also a benefit when we adopted these corks. Cork is a natural, finite resource. As the number of wineries increased, the demand for cork did as well, creating a shortage and increased price of cork. There were rumors swirling about the unethical harvesting practices of cork, and being able to use glass (an infinitely recyclable product) got us out of those muddy waters.

All of these benefits still ring true in 2025. However, the cork industry has come a long way in the last 17 years, and many of our worries surrounding natural cork have been addressed.

For the 2022 vintage, we have adopted a micro-agglomerated cork called VINC+. In the world of corks, there are natural, technical, and synthetic corks. The VINC+ cork is a technical closure, which means it is comprised of cork granules leftover from natural cork production and then mixed with food-grade adhesives to bind it together. From the Cork Supply website, they say this about the VINC+ cork:

VINC is a line of TCA taint free (1) micro-agglomerated corks that are produced exclusively from 100% Cork Supply controlled raw material and state-of-the-art individual molding technologies. The VINC product line is also a result of the new, improved VAPEX® disinfection process. VAPEX® is a batch disinfection process that reduces TCA on cork granules through effective mass and heat transfer.

A natural choice for those who prefer technical:
• 75% cork (weight) / 95% cork (volume)
• Negative carbon footprint
• Homogeneous and superior performance
• Individual TCA Guarantee
• Sensory neutrality

In layman’s terms, technology advancements in the cork industry have come far enough that they are able to create corks were are TCA (cork taint) free, do not impact any aromas or flavors of the wine, all the while their factories are removing more carbon dioxide from the environment than what they are emitting. Now, the ability to use recycled elements from natural cork production and the creation of amalgamated corks has decreased waste and the overall price of cork products. While glass closures were less expensive than cork in 2008, the tables have turned in 2025.

Fresh off the bottling line, a bottle of 2022 Matteri Vineyard Pinot Noir in its new packaging.

On top of increased quality and decreased price, environmental factors were also considered when moving to cork closure. In our previous packaging, each bottle got a glass closure (silicone, glass) and a foil closure (aluminum) on top of the neck. The silicone must be removed from the glass for either element to be properly recycled, and aluminum’s ability to be recycled residentially has also diminished. By moving to the VINC+ cork, it allowed us to re-envision what our bottles could look like. What you’ll find instead is a screen-printed ‘R. Stuart red’ band at the top of the bottle – a nod to the red foils of yesterday – and a branded cork, which shows off R. Stuart’s branding through the glass in the same orientation as our foils did.

This shift in our packaging is a reflection of the constant reinvention the wine industry demands. Yes, production and packaging of wine has been around for thousands of years, but advancements in and understanding of technology, the environment, and winemaking have allowed us to shift the dial with each year. Undoubtedly, our customers are receiving better bottles of wine now than they did in 2008 solely because of choices in packaging and winemaking technology. Making wine is a holistic effort – from the vineyard to the cork, and every decision impacts the product which you enjoy.

While the bottle may look different, the same R. Stuart wine you love is in every bottle. So as you open a 2022 single vineyard wine, don’t forget to to grab your corkscrew and give a cheers to the changemakers of our industry who make these advancements possible.

Our 2022 single vineyard Pinot noirs will be available for purchase beginning Friday, September 19th.

Look forward to sipping on:
• Bright Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Daffodil Hill Pinot Noir
• Hirschy Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Lazy River Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Matteri Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Menefee Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Weber Vineyard Pinot Noir
• Autograph Pinot Noir

Click here to shop all current release wines from R. Stuart & Co. Winery.