Popping the Cork

Beth and I spent this past weekend in the Brandywine Valley of southeastern PA. Aside from being home to Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine Valley also houses 6 wineries. Of course, these wineries all offered tastings which we gladly took part in. After our visit to Napa Valley last year, Beth and I have really enjoyed wine tastings, but not in the snooty, slurpy, swish-and-spit way. We just like tasting the wines and talking with the people there. I can't claim to taste notes of oak, chocolate, red cherries, or any of that other stuff, but I know when something tastes good and doesn't. We came home with 13 bottles of wine including a fantastic strawberry wine.

So, you would understand my trepidation when I found this Audubon Magazine article about synthetic corks linked from Earth, Wind, and Water. Only one bottle of wine that we bought has a wooden cork. The others are all synthetic. We don't usually buy high-priced wine and most of the under $20 bottles seem to be stopped with petroleum-based stoppers. Ugh. The problem is that wooden stoppers make up 70% of business for Portuguese cork growers. Their cork-oak habitat houses many species of bird and mammal including threatened species like Bonelli's Eagle, Iberian Lynx, and Barbary Deer. This habitat is protected by the government due to its monetary benefit, but what will the result be if cork is no longer profitable? I plan to send this article to each of these wineries in hope that it will make some difference.