Introducing Talis' New Production Unit

It’s not all about the liquid. The way a bottle looks, feels and functions in a consumer’s hands is a huge factor in persuading a potential buyer to part with their money, and also greatly influences an individual’s drinking experience. In 2013, closures giant Cork Supply spotted a gap in the luxury spirits market for high quality premium stoppers, and so they created Talis, which is Latin for greatness and excellence.

Talis strive to achieve the highest standards of design, performance and sustainability, and so their in-house design team works exceptionally closely with every customer - and considers every detail from the spirit to the bottling line to the brand - to fully understand their individual requirements and offer the best solution from their wide range of bartops.

Talis’ custom bartops consist of two parts - a stopper and a capsule - created with high quality materials to deliver market-leading mechanical and organoleptic performance. With its visual appeal and adaptability to different bottle necks, cork is an ideal stopper material and Talis offer both natural and micro-agglomerated cork stoppers, which are all ethically sourced and produced. Cork is also the ideal choice for those looking for a sustainable solution as cork forests support biodiversity, prevent desertification and act as massive carbon sinks, naturally removing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Talis’ customisable finishes include wood, metal, plastic and glass options, alongside their innovative Bloom capsule. Created from a combination of a bio-based polymer and left-over cork granules that would otherwise go to waste, the environmentally sustainable Bloom capsule can even be coloured and scented to mirror the liquid inside the bottle, as Monika Michalski, Global Brand Manager, explains:

“Anything that can help your bottle to stand out on the shelf is super valuable when it comes to packaging, and these scented stoppers tap into people’s sensory memories, which is a powerful tool,”

With growing global demand for their premium bartops - which are all made and finished in Portugal - Talis recently invested approximately €5 million into building a new state-of-the-art bartop unit which began production, and achieved FSSC 22000 certification, in late 2023. Not only has this 2,000m² unit enabled Talis to increase capacity to a staggering 150 million bartops per year, but also to improve their offering to customers and staff alike, and to better achieve their sustainability goals.

Located to the south of Porto in São Joã de Ver, Talis’ new production unit is close to both North Portugal’s cork region, and to Talis’ own natural and technical cork production units, which helps to minimise transportation and related emissions. The unit also shares a site with the company’s research and development and product innovation teams, which allows better communication and control over production and, in turn, increased efficiency.

The stunning purpose-built unit is bright and modern and designed with both customers and staff in mind. Talis are proud to operate an open-door policy and consequently the new unit has a tasting room on site to host customers and suppliers, which also features a glass partition giving visitors a unique insight into the bartop production process.

Staff welfare is equally important to Talis and, in addition to undertaking annual anonymous staff surveys, the offices were designed to enhance their working environment with generous, mostly open-plan spaces and plenty of natural light. This not only decreases eyestrain and increases productivity and creativity, but also has the added advantage of reducing energy consumption.

With the goal of becoming zero waste at the forefront of their sustainability agenda, Talis have already eliminated single-use plastics at their factories and developed a closed-loop system to  capture and reutilise all excess and sub-grade corkwood by-products. They have also installed 0.25 kWp photovoltaic panels on their new production unit, meaning that an impressive 35% of the building’s energy is now generated by solar power.

Talis are not stopping there though. For their new unit, they are working towards achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification - the world's most widely used green building rating system - and are also committed to completing a new unit for wooden tops. With their regular audits and review processes, they aim to increase efficiency and to develop and offer more sustainable and top-quality premium products, as they continue their mission to become the “most reliable partner” in the spirits and wine industry.