Oeno's DIAM closure (5) - sorting and shipping

At this point, the closures are essentially ready to ship to the next stage, finishing (which typically happens near their point of use - Napa Valley for my closures, some to Australia, and Champagne or Ceret France for most of the others.) Before they can ship, they get one last inspection - an automated machine looks at every single cork from many angles, rejecting any that are discolored, misshapen, have cracks, voids, or uneven surfaces. This was a fun process to watch, as a little puff of air sends the suspect closures off into one discard bin or another to be recycled back into the process.

They had a board of example defective corks as a reference, listed as critical, major, or minor failures. From here, the corks are baled, and shipped around the world.