Archive for September 29th, 2011

Wine Corks In Demand Again! – Portugal

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Cork oak trees

I am happy to say, that the Wine Cork is making a rebound after a downturn that caused a loss of 25% market share during the 1990s.
Amorim, a Portugal-based company, who is the largest supplier of cork with 3.2 billion units sold last year, suggest that the cork forests around the western Mediterranean have a positive effect as a neutralizer of greenhouse gases, and that after being stripped of their bark they will regenerate it within 10 years. They also claim that incidences of “corked” wines are in decline. At the same time, certain wineries have experimented with using the screw caps exclusively for the last 10 years and have found results to be favorable, with wines maturing elegantly on the same level of what you would expect with having 100% fault free corks.
On the other hand, current  prevailing thought on the subject, believe that screw caps are fine for use as shorter term sealants on wines that will be consumed early although, too tight for long term aging as the microscopic pores in natural cork are necessary, due to the gradual entry of minute amounts of air, which, help in a positive way in the development process of wines over longer periods of time.