February 15, 2021
February 15, 2021
PORTUGAL AND SANTA ROSA, CA – M. A. Silva USA, the leading manufacturer of premium corks, glass, and packaging in North America, in collaboration with M. A. Silva, Portugal, announces the launch of their latest cork technology and product, NEOTECH® – a micro-agglomerated cork that offers non-detectable levels of TCA*.
With NEOTECH®, M. A. Silva has evolved the previous Pearl® and Pearl Prestige® micro-agglomerate corks utilizing new technology in order to offer a cork with non-detectable levels of TCA. The process involves selecting uniformly-sized cork granules that are treated with heat and steam to vaporize TCA, phenols, and other anisoles commonly found in cork. The result is a homogenous micro-agglomerated cork that maintains the natural performance, appearance, and quality expected from a M. A. Silva cork product.
“Our focus [is] to keep investing in all the technologies that we already have available, upgrading them to be as effective as possible, even if it seems difficult; to invest in cutting edge technologies to try to anticipate the demands of the wine industry; to have a highly qualified team in all steps of the production flow, investing in research and innovation, throughout their knowledge and skills,” states M. A. Silva Portugal.
M. A. Silva’s focus on R&D and product quality has led to numerous innovation awards globally, such as the WINnovation Award in 2019 in the US and the Austrovin-Awards in 2020 for the introduction of SARA® Advanced technology. Since 2018, this proprietary cork cleansing and sterilization technology involve an automated process with dry steam, temperature, and pressure, to expand cork’s molecular structure and vaporize unwanted TCA, anisoles, and phenols. SARA® Advanced technology is applied to all of M. A. Silva’s cork products at no additional cost, ensuring customers receive the best quality cork they’ve come to expect from M. A. Silva. With NEO® technology, now the micro-agglomerated cork will receive the same level of treatment.
“The US wine industry understands cork and expects high-quality standards that we continue to exceed,” says M. A. Silva co-founder and president, Neil Foster. “ We know that our cork meets even the most discerning winemaker’s scrutiny, and by our constant innovation and collaboration with Portugal, we are able to meet the demands that US winemakers expect in today’s cork market.”
Providing corks that are free from detectible TCA allows winemakers the confidence to know that their wine will be conveyed to the consumer the way they intended. With NEO® technology and NEOTECH® corks, winemakers can ensure all measures were taken to provide them the cleanest micro-agglomerated cork available.
Click for more information on NEOTECH®.
(*) Releasable TCA content at or below the 0.5 ng/L quantification limit; analysis performed in accordance to ISO 20752.
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*Verfied by Cork Quality Council Data
**All M.A. Silva cork products comply with existing FDA and European regulations for products in contact with food