Today I had the pleasure of attending the Oregon Wine Symposium in the beautiful city of Eugene. During my time there I got to meet and speak with a number of people from all aspects of the wine industry. Mostly I spent my time speaking with the representatives of the cork companies.  The “cork dork” in me can’t stop talking about this amazing tree and how important it is. I attended a seminar on closures, quite interesting. There were three speakers talking about different closure methods. The speaker representing screwcaps made a statement concerning 100% recyclability, as there was a question and answer period; I took an opportunity to ask some questions.  My first question was concerning screwcaps and recycling, noting that they are not currently being recycled here in the US; I asked how can this benefit be made to customers, if in fact it’s not true? My answer was that screwcaps are recycled in Europe and that the representative was “not aware” that the US is not currently recycling them. I found that interesting, as he is selling to an American audience.

My second question concerned a 2007 Transnational, scientific study concerning endocrine disruptor’s found in wines closed with screwcaps. Endocrine disruptor’s are believed to be the major cause of breast and colon cancer in the western hemisphere. Again his answer was, “I’m not aware of that study”.

 The reason I wanted to write about this experience was because of what occurred an hour later. Standing in the trade area, I was approached by a couple who introduced themselves, told me they owned a vineyard/winery and thanked me for my questions at the seminar. Based upon my questions and the subsequent non-answers, they had made the decision not to use screwcaps and close their wines with natural cork. Some days it just doesn’t’t get any better! Chalk one up for the Montados.

We are very proud to announce our partnership with the Leeanau Peninsula Vintners Association. Continuing their commitment to sustainable wine making practices, the 21 wineries in the upper Michigan peninsula have joined together to collect their cork in support of Cork ReHarvest’s efforts. “We are very excited and honored to be part of this effort to recycle cork and to bring awareness to the environmental issues concerning the Mediterranean cork forests,” said LPVA Treasurer Mark Carlson. All the cork collected from the LPVA wineries will be shipped to Yemm and Hart, a cork tile manufacturer in Marquand, Missouri

Here’s a great article about cork usage in the building of airplanes: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/cork-airplane/

I’ve received a number of comments about our new website, thank you all for your feedback! One of the questions that has appeared a few times is, “How is the cork being recycled?” Great question, here’s the answer. As the cork is collected across the US and Canada, it is being sent regionally to one of three recycling centers to maintain our goal of zero carbon increase. West of the Rockies the cork is going to Western Pulp in Corvallis, Oregon. Western Pulp is grinding up the corks and mixing them with recycled newspaper, to make a shipper for the wine industry. The shippers are molded to the shape of the bottle and secure it for safe shipment from wineries to their customers. East of the Rockies and West of the Mississippi the corks are going to Yemm and Hart a cork floor tile manufacturer located just outside St. Louis, Missouri. East of the Mississippi the cork are going to Jelinek Cork in Oakville, Ontario Canada, who makes a number of industrial and consumer cork products. Please visit the websites of our recycling partners to learn more: www.westernpulp.com www.jelinek.com www.yemmhart.com As the website continues to develop we will add a page to show the products being made by our partners.

We’re very excited that today Bobby Flay Twittered that his restaurant Mesa Grill at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is a collection station for Cork ReHarvest. Thank you Bobby for your support of our organization!

Savor takes another step in its commitment to green practices
Savor Catering at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall is pleased to announce a partnership with Cork ReHarvest, a recycling program to reclaim a small portion of the estimated 13 billion natural cork wine stoppers sold into the world market each year. Savor is already an industry leader in introducing green standards and programs to public facilities . Initiatives aimed at minimizing our carbon footprint include purchasing locally produced and sustainably raised products and recycling and composting our waste whenever possible.
It seems patrons of the arts do enjoy a nice glass of wine before seeing an opera or ballet. In December alone Savor Catering at McCaw Hall will pop just over 2,000 corks.

I’ve just come back from the “Green Wine Summit” in Santa Rosa CA and did I ever learn a lot. It was a wonderful opportunity to see so many people from all aspects of the wine industry coming together to learn and to teach about the advancements in sustainable, organic and bio dynamic wine making. We learned about the publics view of sustainable and organic wines as well as their concerns about “green washing”. There were seminars about local  and nationwide programs for lowering CO2 emissions and becoming carbon neutral. I am very honored to be part of this growing movement to improve land use and bring a more natural and sustainable product to the world of wine.

As Cork ReHarvest continues to grow, I’m always amazed by the questions and comments I receive. Not only from the public but from wine industry professionals as well. Often someone will say to me “I buy screwcap wines because I’m saving the cork forests”. They get a blank look back from me before I can gather myself, (I don’t have a very good poker face) to say “well that’s not exactly true”. The fact is, there is enough cork for all the bottles of wine produced, for the next 100 years. The “cork shortage” myth was started by the alternative closure companies. It’s actually a spin on the fact that because there are alternative closures in the market, there is less demand for natural cork. Farmers not harvesting cork does not equate to a shortage. The fact is that if the tree is not harvested when ready (every nine years) it does not mean it can’t be harvested later when demand increases. So I welcome your questions about all things cork!