By Eric Fortney, This Dish is Veg, July 20, 2010

An interesting statistic was brought to light by a Facebook fan page supporting the use of all natural cork wine stoppers, the people behind the natural cork movement—bet you didn’t know one existed—100PercentCork.org claim that the majority of their 15,000 fans are women.

Since the launch of the fan page on May 20, sixty-nine-percent of those who have joined are female. So what is the driving force behind this gender disparity?

Could it be that more women drink wine than men? Or possibly women are just more compassionate…

By Jeremiah McWilliams

Let’s face it: Wine corks are primarily obstacles between merrymakers and their vino. After they’ve served their purpose of keeping wine fresh, they’re pretty easy to forget.
But a recycling group that started around wineries in Napa, Calif., in 2008 wants to change that by encouraging U.S. restaurants to gather used corks so they can be recycled into footwear. The group, called ReCORK, is backed by Amorim of Portugal, the world’s largest producer of natural cork wine closures, footwear company SOLE, and Amorim’s U.S. sales affiliates.

The group has spread its operations to the…

By Graham Land, Sustainable living, July 19, 2010

The rise of inexpensive non-European wines and convenience-obsessed consumer culture are threatening the ancient and sustainable cork industry. But besides the potential loss of long-established ‘green jobs’ and the fact that plastic stoppers and screw caps are bad for the environment, the cork industry also sustains large areas of industry-managed forests, which are hotspots for biodiversity. Large bird populations depend on these forests, as does the endangered Iberian Lynx.

Cork forests are not cut down, but rather the trees are stripped of their soft bark every nine years throughout their…

“Phenomenal” Response to Natural Cork Wine Stopper Campaign
Supporters Urged to Demand Natural Cork at www.100PercentCork.Org

July 19, 2010 – New York – 100PercentCork.org announced today that it has rapidly exceeded 15,000 Facebook fans and that an overwhelming number of their comments support the use of natural cork wine stoppers. The finding echoes other polls and research that demonstrate strong consumer preference for natural cork – in contrast to the decision by some wineries to use plastic wine stoppers and aluminum screw caps.

“The initial response to the 100% Cork campaign has been phenomenal,” said Peter Weber,…

By Louise Gray, Telegraph UK, July 16, 2010

The fashion for screw cap wines among the middle classes is destroying forests and could lead to the extinction of one of world’s rarest wildcats, ecologists claim.

It used to be unthinkable to start a dinner party without a satisfying ‘pop’ of the cork.

But the popularity of ‘New World’ wines from Australia or America and the convenience of opening a picnic bottle without a corkscrew led to a rise in the popularity of screw caps.

Now cork suppliers and environmentalists are fighting back claiming…

Author: Joe Bates

The Portuguese Cork Association (APC) and the US-based Cork Quality Council have launched a major promotional campaign in the US to persuade winemakers and wine drinkers of the supposed benefits of natural cork.

The 100% Cork campaign, which was launched this week at the 2010 Sustainable Brands Conference in Monterey, California, features a new consumer website, www.100percentcork.org.

The site encourages consumers to pledge their support for natural cork. The campaign also uses a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/100percentcork, which has attracted 10,980 followers.

The campaign highlights the environmental credentials of natural cork.

“Choosing cork over artificial wine…