For making wine look cheap.
When a waiter asks, ”Shall I unscrew it for you, sir?”, I always feel less than aristocratic.
Perhaps you have heard that cork is becoming extinct? Or that there is a shortage? Or that harvesting it harms the environment? These are all FALSE rumors. Cork comes from a tree—the bark from the cork oak tree, to be exact. This tree is NOT cut down for cork extraction; only the bark is removed. This harvesting occurs about every nine years. A cork tree’s life span is about two hundred years.
Cork oak trees provide extensive biodiversity. They protect the soil from drying out, and some wildlife even depends upon the human cultivation of these cork forests for its survival. NOT harvesting cork actually HURTS the environment.
“Cork taint” is the supposed spoiling of wine due to the use of cork. Corking, as it is also called, can be found in about 1 percent to 7 percent of bottles (depending on which study you believe). Curiously, cork taint still occurs even with the use of synthetic stoppers and screw caps. Hmmm…
Robert Ramon invented his synthetic pseudo-cork in the eighties. Keep in mind that the “decade of excess” wasn’t exactly full of bright beverage ideas (e.g., Crystal Pepsi and New Coke).
Which do you think is healthier for our planet, cork or synthetic? Robert corkscrewed us with this stupid stopper. And if a winery tells you synthetic is superior in any way, it’s bullshit; they are just being cheap bastards AND hurting the environment. We all know where you should be sticking that fake cork!