Story of Cork of wine bottles
- Monday, June 09, 2014
- by
- Unknown
Learning about wine, its
production, and long history never ceases to fascinate me. My best friend
recently visited for dinner and a movie; and of course we sipped a bottle of
wine or two. I had previously told him about an artful idea I had that involved
used wine bottle cork, so on this particular visit, he brought me a bag full of
the bottle corks that he had accumulated. As we were fingering the cork
stoppers and reminiscing about the tasty and not-so-tasty wine associated with
each cork, a thought popped into my head- what do I really know about cork? I
knew a little, but guessed that there were even more interesting details I was
no doubt missing out on.
Cork comes from the Quercus
suber tree a member of the Oak family and commonly called Cork Oak. These
majestic trees grow mainly in regions of Portugal and Spain. In these
countries, the Cork Oak is grown for industry purposes such as plugs for wine
bottles. But, cork’s fame is not only in connection with wine production.
Robert Hooke, a scientist in many fields including chemistry, biology, and
physics, studied cork extensively. In 1663, he used the most sophisticated
magnifying equipment available, rudimentary by today’s standards, to view cork
at a microscopic level. What he discovered and named were cells, a complex and
integral part of most life on earth.
Quercus suber trees are planted
and allowed to mature approximately 25 years before their first harvest. Once they reach an
appropriate age, they can yield a harvest about every 9 to 12 years. The trees
are marked with the last year of harvest so the strippers know to allow the
tree to recover. In the dry and hot temperatures of these cork bearing regions,
workers move from tree to tree stripping large patches of porous bark from the
shade-bearing cork trees. Each tree can yield cork for around 200 years
producing an average 100 pounds of cork each harvest. However, the amount of
cork harvested from a single tree depends on the tree’s size and individual
characteristics.
The
oldest cork tree known is called the Whistler Tree. This tree has been growing
for about 230 years, since 1782. The Whistler Tree gave up its first batch of
cork in 1820; its latest harvest in 2000 yielded 1,818 pounds of bark, enough
to make over 100,000 wine bottle corks and all from this single tree. By the
end of this incredible tree’s life it will have produced enough corks to make
over 1 million wine bottle stoppers.
Sourcce: http://www.girlmeetsfood.com/ (modified)
Sourcce: http://www.girlmeetsfood.com/ (modified)
