I used to work with a French company called Diam, cosmetic displays not corks, that was Dee-Am.
Beautiful comment and I could not agree more.
I checked out some of their videos from Youtube and they seem to pronounce it something like “d’yum”. Definitely not “dee-am” (that “am” the same as in “I am”).
Their lead rep has been on multiple podcasts saying Dee-Am.
You say d’yum I say dee-am.
And of course it doesn’t actually matter!
Well, yeah, this.
After all the excitement here I listened in as well and it’s as David mention. The only think I not sure of is if it should be Dee-Am or Dee-am.
On the other hand if I would write it Di-am/Di-Am if I thought of the Swedish pronunciation.
But I like your version better Otto, sounds more delicious that way.
OK then…I know there’s some weird food in Scandinavia, but if you want to eat cork go ahead!
DIAM for the win. Screw Cap too. Wonder which one costs more to the winery in the long run? If I had that much money and time invested into a company, I’d never use cork. 2%-5% automatic loss from closure is insane.
Which you prefer, a (d’)yum or a Dee-Am?
I cna imagine most people would prefer the cork over the fermented fish (surströmming)
Okay from a French speaker here, it’s dee-âme, as in the word “soul” in French, “âme”, which is not quite like the way most people in the U.S. would pronounce “am” (as in “I am”) nor “um”. Google Dictionary says âme is pronounced “am”, but listen to it and you’ll see the difference. This is not unlike my last name Patte— a lifetime of no-one in the US getting the “a” sound right even when I coach them on it….
So higher # on DIAM = less oxygen let in → slower to age? (aka DIAM 30 lets in less oxygen than DIAM 10 which is less than DIAM 5, etc)
yep
I use technical corks, but have steered away from Diam due to the confusion that the “guarantee” number is the life of the cork and the wine’s potential. The number relates to the Diam guarantee not just TCA, but also consistency from cork to cork, and oxygen transmission rates (both the initial rate, and ongoing daily rate after compression from the corking machine (on G3 and Diam website, you have to dig, but here’s a direct quote: “…maintaining the proven reliability of Diam Bouchage in terms of guaranteed no detectable TCA **(≤ the limit of quantification of 0.3 ng/l), consistency and oxygen control.”
As a producer, it’s hard to explain to clients that a “5” is fine for 10 or 20 years… The main thing is that the OTR is higher in the 2, 3 and 5 and that may be a good thing for your wine, or not, depending on the wine type and vintage.
And the price! The wholesale U.S. pricing on the “tradition” versions are as follows (G3 is the distributor, sold in bags of 1,000). (“Tradition” is the lineup with artwork to mimic the lines on natural cork.)
Diam 2: $0.236/cork (44mm x 24.5mm)
Diam 3: $0.3 (44mm x 23.5mm)
Diam 5: $0.442 (47mm x 23.5mm)
Diam 10: $0.707 (49mm x 23.5mm)
Diam 30: $0.962 (49mm x 23.5mm)
[edit: removed error/comment about diameter and OTRs]
Do those prices include any customization? I know with screw caps and corks, the cost is usually higher and there is a relatively high minimum order too.
Thanks my friend.
I remember this being a one-time fee for initial artwork files; no extra charge/fees after that… in 2019 it was $135. But I didn’t reorder, switched to CWine so I can’t confirm it. CWine had no fees at all for the artwork setup and printing when we order. CWine is a premium cork from Trefinos, based in Portugal (250 yr history) and the rep. convinced me that they are higher quality than Diam (larger aggregates = more % of cork content, less polymer/binding agent). They are also guaranteed similar to Diam, and also use “super critical CO2 extraction” . They offer 3 OTRs without the confusion to the client on the cork : ) (1.9 microliters/day, 2.7 and 4.5). The rep. told me verbally that because they have less polymer/space, their initial Ox transfer rates are much lower than Diam (none of the ITR info is transparent on either the Diam or Trefinos websites, so I can’t fully confirm this). And finally, they are a lot cheaper — my latest order was at $0.20 per cork (and this was a small 1,000 quant. order for the white bottling)

As a producer, it’s hard to explain to clients that a “5” is fine for 10 or 20 years
That shouldn’t surprise me, but it does as does this thread. I saw DIAM corks before I ever knew what they were and never once thought the number correlated to years. Millions of products are numbered for differentiation between lines.
I’m interested in hearing more about your use of the CWine corks, David. I’m not familiar with them, but, as you pointed out elsewhere, the Diam are creeping up in price and I’m sure they aren’t the only ones who can make these well. We can take this offline…
I think Stewart Johnson of Kendric Vineyards mentioned in an earlier thread that he used them and liked them.
-Al