Glossary

What do some of the words mean that are most frequently used by those who know in the cork industry.

Scrap: Waste resulting from the preparation of cork and/or its transformation into stoppers.

Cork bits: Pieces of virgin or secondary cork with a surface area less than 400 cm².

Lenticular channels: Structures that cross the corky tissue and allow gas exchange between the atmosphere and the living tissue of the tree.

Raw cork: Virgin or reproduction cork that did not undergo any treatment after harvesting.

Prepared cork: Reproduction cork that has already been boiled, smoothed, selected, and possibly submitted to an operation of choice (usually called cork “em raça ” or “traços”).

Cork for stoppers: Cork suitable for transformation into stoppers and intended for their manufacture, also known as cork amadia.

Virgin cork: Cork from the first harvesting of the trunk and branches of the cork oak.

Reproduction or secondary cork: Cork formed after the harvest of virgin cork.

Amadia cork: cork from the third harvest, having sufficient thickness for the manufacture of stoppers.

Disc: Cylindrical piece in natural cork of variable thickness and diameter, used to form technical corks.

Cork “em raça”: Prepared, not graded cork.

Wedges: Parts of cork formed at the base of the trunk, in direct contact with the ground – called “shoe blocks” in Spain.

Green cork: Cork next to the belly that has cells with a translucent appearance and containing water after drying.

Harvesting: Act of removing cork from the tree.

Descortiçador: person who removes cork from the tree with an axe without damaging it.

Granulate: Fragment of cork that can have different sizes, classified by particle size and density.

Cork stopper industry: Industry of the transformation of cork into stoppers for wines and spirits.

Yellow stain: Yellowish stain that develops on the back of the cork board, and that may also cause of the discolouration of the adjacent corky tissue and develop a characteristic odour.

Plank: Prepared cork with a quality and calibre likely to lead to further processing by wood cutting.

Pore: Lenticular channel seen in cross section.

Cork stopper: Product obtained from cork and/or agglomerated cork, consisting of one or more parts designed to seal bottles or containers and to preserve their contents.

Natural cork stopper: single piece, obtained by punching a strip of cork.

Colmated natural cork stopper: natural stoppers with the pores sealed by cork dust.

Champagne stoppers: these belong to the group of technical stoppers, with an agglomerated cork body and one, two or three discs at one end, with a diameter greater than normal stoppers.

Technical cork stopper (1+1): Comprising a very dense body of agglomerated cork with natural cork discs glued to one or both ends.

Micro-Granulated cork stopper: New generation cork stoppers with a body of agglomerated cork of a specific grading.

Capped cork stopper: Natural cork stopper with a cap made of wood, PVC, metal, glass etc. glued to one end.

Refugo: Low quality reproduction cork not likely to be made into stoppers.

Strips: Cork ready and calibrated and free of wedges, refugos, and /or bits.