Interesting web survey results at Wall Street Journal: Plastic or Natural cork preference

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian Mueller-Soppart on November 21, 2010 at 6:48pm

i am new to the site an just read your post. it is a shame that the topic hasn't garnered any comments. i am surprised by the 96% you presented. i thought americans think more practical and are more open to the new, when it objectively makes more sense.

btw, are there better sites, of this sort, with more activity that you know of?

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Spencer on November 30, 2010 at 1:43pm

Rui,
Thank you for posting the question. One of things that we often encounter when these types of surveys are conducted, or when the wine magazines do a feature about closures, is the lack of content concerning the environmental aspects of the three main closures.

We speak to and hear from thousands of American's each year and the same statements of misinformation always come up; "I didn't know they didn't cut the cork trees down", "My screw caps aren't being recycled?", "I thought there was a cork shortage?" and my favorite, "I heard screw caps and plastic corks are more environmental than natural cork". All this misinformation is being perpetrated by those invested in selling alternative closures.

When wine companies tell the public that they switched to screw caps and plastic due to TCA taint issues, that is fundamentally not the case, it's about the bottom line and the cost savings gained by using alternative closures. We challenge any winery in America to show bill back statements, for "tainted wine" in the amount of 7-10%, the number some of them toss around. Also if the wineries have saved money on closures and reduced taint, why don't they pass those savings on to their customers? I haven't seen a bottle of wine go down in price when the winery went from natural cork to an alternative closure.

It's also very interesting to see wineries promote their "sustainability efforts" and then close their bottles with a product that is not sustainably sourced, is not biodegradable and in America, has a recycling rate of less than 1%.
The cork forests of the Mediterranean support one of the highest levels of forest biodiversity on our planet, are a valuable carbon sink and oxygen provider and support the livelihood for 100's of thousands of family's. They keep 6.6 million acres from being turned into desert and are vital to health of our planet.

Closing a wine bottle with a screw cap or plastic closure is the antithesis of a sustainable practice.
Please visit our web site to learn more: www.corkreharvest.org

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