December 24, 2012

Wine corks are made from harvesting bark from cork oak trees, which are mostly found in Spain and Portugal. It is commonly misconceived that this process requires cutting the oaks down, but this is not so. The trees are not harmed, and the cork regrows in between ten and twenty-five years. The bark is then boiled down for sterilization and to flatten it. Corks are punched out of the bark in cross-sections. Fascinating!