Put a Cork in It

The next time you think about pulling a cork out of a bottle of wine, think about this.

1. Half of all corks used come from Portugal - some 70 million corks a day.
2. Dom Perignon, the champagne making monk, started the trend of using the odorless cork as a stopper in the 17th century.
3. Cork is peeled off an oak tree, called Quercus suber.
4. After it has been stripped from the tree, cork takes ten years to grow back.
5. The tree grows naturally in the wild, but is cultivated in large tracts on rugged hillsides.


The cork is environmentally friendly. Trees planted are carbon neutral, labor employed keeps the Portuguese happy, and then, there is nothing like pulling a cork and hearing the pop.

Can't put the cork back in the bottle? Solution - drink the entire bottle.