Which Wine Cork to Choose?

Thanks for all of the great info! A while back I posted some reuse & recycling info about wine corks on my site: http://recycleraccoon.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/recycle-wine-corks/

You have to watch out for the cork industry’s environmental claims, quite a bit of it is merely greenwashing. They recently published a lifecycle analysis of cork vs screwcaps that was heavily biased in favor of corks. The aluminum screwcap is my preference because of the consistancy and lack of cork taint. It is also the most easily recycled because it can go in with your curbside recycling. The bark and synthetic corks are theoretically recyclable – but have you ever seen someone accepting them for recycling? Not I 🙂

Thanks for this post. In choosing a wine, I complete zero. This article will be very helpful to me!

Another positive environmental attribute of natural cork is that the cork forests of the Mediterranean play an important role in carbon dioxide retention. While cork is recyclable it is also biodegradable, so unlike alternative wine closures those corks that do find their way into landfill will eventually break down. There is a program recycling used wine corks called ReCORK America. More details including a list of drop-off locations can be found at http://www.recorkamerica.com

Im of the opinion that you shouldn’t mess with tradition thus like cork stoppers, but I have had plenty of wine with synthetic stoppers and have come across more and more twist tops. I find the quality to vary more with the varietal and winery and not with the type of “cork”.