Put a Cork in it!

Of course we are passionate about corks! Corks are literally grown in our own backyard! Even a routine trip to town takes us though a landscape of Alentejan plains dotted with ancient cork oaks, where sheep and goats graze, and black Iberian pigs scout for acorns.

“Cork oak forests rank among the top biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean and in Europe ” says a spokeswoman for WWF’s Cork Oak Landscapes program . The current debate on wine closures must be switched from wine faults and economics (plastic stoppers and metal screw caps are cheaper!) to environmental concerns.

“A lot of people aren´t aware that cork is a sustainable product ” according to WWF ‘s Alison Sutton. “Not one cork tree is cut down to extract the cork, and the trees can go on living for hundreds of years .” Cork harvesting is one of the best examples of a sustainable agro-forestry system, where people use the natural resources around them without disturbing or destroying nature.