100% Cork
Approximately 70% of the cork industry’s revenue comes from wine stoppers.
If natural cork is no longer used in wine, this flow of revenue would stop supporting these rural communities, forest workers and property owners therefore risking the balance that has kept this bio-gem alive for so long.
We’ve highlighted the top ten reasons to choose wine with a natural cork stopper over artificial closures:
Natural cork is a truly sustainable product - 100% natural, renewable and recyclable.
Not a single tree is felled in the production of cork stoppers. In fact, the bark of the cork oak tree is harvested after 25 years and then once every nine years thereafter. The sustainability of cork closure production has been recognised by leading NGOs and auditing firms around the world, even having achieved accreditation from the Forestry Stewardship Council, providing independent reassurance that forests are responsibly managed to guarantee the long term protection of delicate ecosystems and habitats.
Literally all of the cork bark is used in the production of cork. Cork waste generated in the production process is granulated and returned into the process to make more corks. Even the fine particles of cork dust are collected and used as fuel to heat the factory boilers.
Analysis by PwC in 2008 found that the production of some alternative stoppers emits as much as 24 times more CO2 than the production of cork stoppers.
Overall, the analysis found that when comparing the total lifecycle environmental impact across all closure types, from production through to disposal, cork stoppers performed best. Artificial stoppers performed badly against cork stoppers in terms of non-renewable energy consumption, emission of greenhouse effect gases, contribution to atmospheric acidification, contribution to the formation of photochemical oxidants, contribution to the eutrophication of surface water and total production of solid waste.
Natural cork actively helps to prevent global warming with cork oak trees absorbing over 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year.
The cork forests are home to 24 species of reptiles and amphibians, 100 bird species and 37 mammal species, some of which are endangered. Per one thousand square metres of cork forest, there are approximately 135 species of plant and many of these species have aromatic, culinary or medicinal uses.
Letting wine breathe and mature naturally is vital to ensure the final taste and experience is the best it can be, as intended by the winemaker. Cork closures provide the perfect balance of letting in a micro-amount of oxygen sufficient to enable the wine to develop and mature. Artificial stoppers oscillate between letting too much air into the bottle, leading to oxidation (as in the case of plastic stoppers) and screw caps have been identified as being too tight a seal, letting in too little oxygen and causing reduced flavours in the wine.
Cork is a ‘natural born sealer’. Its natural elasticity, impermeability, moisture resistance as well as its insulation properties and lightness of weight, make it a perfect material to seal wine which can be enjoyed for years.
In 1870 The French Benedictine monk, Dom Pierre Pérignon, was trying to find a new sealing solution to replace using wooden bungs wrapped in hemp to seal bottles of his sparkling wine (Champagne). In 1680, he successfully used cork. Since then the finest wines and champagne houses have continued to trust in natural cork. If it’s good enough for the best, why settle for anything less?
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Step One
The process of making natural cork stoppers begins in the ‘Montados’ or cork oak forests. The forests act as the ‘green lung’ of Europe, absorbing 10 million tonnes of CO2 every year. The forests are also one of the world’s top ten biodiversity hotspots, home to thousands of species including the endangered Iberian Lynx and the Iberic Imperial Eagle. -
Step Two
Cork harvesting is an environmentally friendly process during which not a single tree is cut down. Once the cork oak tree reaches 25 years old the bark is then harvested once every nine years. The natural cork used in cork stoppers is only available after the third cycle of harvesting, typically when the tree is almost 45 years old. The centuries-old tradition of harvesting requires the delicate stripping of the outer bark by skilled workers using specialised cork axes. The stripping is carried out mid-May or early June until the end of August when the tree is growing strongly and the bark comes away easily from the trunk. -
Step Three
Following the harvest, the bark is stacked in piles and ‘seasoned’ for at least six months.
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Step Four
After six months from the time of the harvest, the natural cork planks go through a rigorous process of boiling, stabilisation, slicing and punching by skilled workers. 40 million cork stoppers are produced by hand in Portugal every day. Hand punching results in a more consistent quality, because the worker can choose the very best sections in the cork strip. -
Step Five
After the punching process, natural corks are sized and selected into different grades using highly sophisticated analytical techniques. The stoppers are washed and disinfected and the moisture level is stabilised thus maximising the stopper performance. -
Step Six
All the waste from the punching process is used to make other cork products such as construction materials and insulation – even on the external fuel tanks of space shuttles!
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Step Seven
The cork stoppers are printed or branded, according to the wine producers’ specifications. The methods used are ink printing (with food quality ink) or traditional heat branding. After branding, they are given a paraffin or silicon surface treatment to make them easier to insert and extract from the bottles. -
Step Eight
Once production is finished, the stoppers are packed in plastic bags with SO2 (sulphur dioxide), a gas that blocks microbiological proliferation and delivered to the wine bottler. With cork, wine is sealed the natural way.
