The Return of the Cork!

There is, perhaps, no greater indication of wine snobbery than a person's stand on the cork versus cap issue. I have to admit that for a long time I was a cork snob. For me a good old fashioned cork meant tradition and class. And besides, twisting off a screw cap seemed dangerously close to opening a bottle of soda pop. But I slowly came around, mostly with the help of the wonderful New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. Reluctantly, I was converted. Ecologically it seemed like a good idea (does this make me an ecology snob?) and it protects the wine better than a natural cork. So far I have never come in contact with a wine that you could call "capped".

But hold the ecological bus! Things have changed. Environmentalists are calling on the wine industry to return to the cork. First off, it is a renewable resource. The fiber stripped from the tree to create the cork, regrows and produces the next year's corks. And with the rise of the screw cap, Mediterranean Cork Oak forests are losing their profitability and in danger of being destroyed for development.

So wine snobs... It seems we are ecologically minded after all. And can anything really compete with the satisfying "pop" of a natural cork freshly removed from a good bottle of wine? I think not - speaking environmentally of course!

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