Sunday 19 October 2008

Farming cork oak in Evora, Portugal. The cork is stacked
to mature. I understand that these days many bottles have
screw-on tops, so this is a dying industry. The trees are all
cork oak trees and the bark is stripped off every ten years.
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9 comments:

Acornmoon said...

Is it a good thing or a bad one, this screw on top idea for wine? It's always sad when an industry dies, there is always a human cost. Growing and harvesting cork maybe has environmental impacts? I think that the cork stoppers look so much nicer but find the screw on types so much easier, as a farmer, where do you stand, or are you on the fence like me?

Crafty Green Poet said...

I've heard the arguments that because of the number of wine bottles that are'corked' that screw tops are environmentally better. Then there is the argument (which I prefer) that cork growing is sustainable and helps to keep a unique ecosystem alive and thriving.

As a real ale drinker its a discussion i watch from a distance.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I really don't know enough about it acornmoon. I agree with you that screw tops are easier but think the wine buffs want corks. As for the effect on the environment I don't know. The bark regenerates after removal, so I am not sure what that means for the environment. Nor do I know how dependent the cork oak farmers are on that crop.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks crafty green poet - hope acornmoon reads your comment as it is much more informed than mine.

Janice Thomson said...

I find it interesting the bark renews itself - on most trees strip off the bark and the tree dies. Sounds like using corks would have less effect than screw on tops found in the bellies of many animals - just my two cents worth :)

Any Girl said...

How sad about the corks! All you pictures have been fun. Now, did you take all of these pictures yourself? And if so, how often do you travel about?

Red Clover said...

Whoops. I posted under my other blog. Any Girl is Red Clover. That's my "civilian blog" I guess.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Interesting point Janice. People do leave screw tops lying about and this is not good for the environment.

The Weaver of Grass said...

On the whole, anygirl, we go away just once a year, but we have been doing it for years so that we have amassed quite a lot of farming photos.