A documentary that promotes the green credentials of the cork industry dodges the real issues in the closures debate, say a UK supermarket and a synthetic closure producer.
Scheduled to air 9 December on BBC2, Cork Forest in a Bottle reports that natural cork is the green choice of closure and claims consumers have been misled about the damage screwcap and synthetic closures cause to the environment.
'The public have been denied the chance to be as environmentally friendly as they can be when it comes to cork,' said Paul Morrison, the documentary's producer.
'We hope viewers will say "hang on a minute, we didn't know plastics and screwcaps are polluting." It will allow the consumer to make an informed choice.'
However at least one alternative closures producer argues that the cork industry's drive to put environmental concerns at the top of the closures agenda is designed to detract from performance issues with natural cork.
'When you find yourself losing market share to newer technologies like screwcap and synthetics that have a fraction of the defects, you have to do what you can and focus on areas where you have an advantage,' said.Simon Waller, vice president of synthetic closure producer Supremecorq, told decanter.com in response to Morrison's comments.
UK retailer Sainsbury's had a similar reaction.
'Environmental benefits are a consideration, but quality remains the most important factor in closure choice,' said Barry Dick, product technologist at UK retailer Sainsbury's.
'Natural cork has not yet been able to guarantee both good quality and environmental benefits.'
The film coincides with the release of a year-long study into the environmental impact of cork, plastic and aluminium screwcap stoppers by PricewaterhouseCoopers and commissioned by cork giant Amorim.
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Hardly surprising response from Sainsbury's or from Supremecorq from my experience selling thousands of bottles a year with many still with cork closures the incidence of cork taint is very low the main reason for alternative closures.
For Sainsbury's spokesperson to say that quality comes over environmental needs is pretty shocking. It is obvious that synthetic and metal closures cause more pollution than cork. Also corks have other uses soak them in paraffin and you get great fire lighters.....
So let's see the programme and then make a measured judgement as for Sainsbury's shame on you yet another example of the supermarkets jack-booted approach to life in general.
Andy Whiteman, The Harris Arms, Devon
When evaluating a study one must take in to consideration the sponsor. You do not pay for adverse results to be published. This survey and documentary appear a little cork tainted from the outset.
Lance Nash, Black Pearl Wines, South Africa
And what of the claim that declining cork sales will inevitably result in ecological catastrophe, i.e., destruction of the cork forests via sale to land developers: how much truth is there in that? There are, after all, other uses for cork.
Bill Marsano, New York
I was once in a situation where someone sniffed a wine and told me the wine was corked. I took the wine from him to have a sniff myself and found that the wine was actually oxidized not corked. So I wondered, how many wines were deemed as corked when the wine was actually oxidized? People hear the words 'corked wine', and when they smell something that is funny in the wine they said that the wine is corked. I started a wine tasting club in my hometown and I try to make it my mission to teach the members how to identify faulty wines.
Anton Nel, South Africa
Of course the natural cork industry is going to use the only card they have to fight back and save the natural cork forests. These Quercus suber forests have been used and managed sustainabily for hundreds of years even thousands! Now due to sysnthetics and metals being used, we are not only destroying the cork oak itself but also thousands of animals, plants and people.
Other biodiversity relies on these forests for survival, and once they stop being managed the way they are and have been, they will begin to die out, for example the Iberian Lynx only 100 left in the wild, if the management stops then so do they. Thousands of people also rely on the the jobs that natural cork offers, portugal being the biggest player in the industry will almost lose its whole economy the way its going.
There is too much relying on the Quercus suber forests too just listen to people like Simon Waller of Supremecorq who is off course going to knock down the natural cork because he is trying to defend his product, become the market leader and he is the vice president. Well its about time people stopped thinking of themselves and how much money they can earn! Every product needs natural ingredients including synthetic corks. How much oil does Mr Waller use in his corks?
Ken McMullen
IMG height=13 src="http://www.decanter.com/images/newsletter/button.gif" width=25 NOSEND="1">It is unfortunate that wines contaminated by TCA are generally spoken of as being 'corked' and that some people use that epithet when referring to wines suffering from other problems thus making the traditional cork the villain of the piece in the minds of many.
As I understand it, TCA can enter wines from a variety of sources, corks being one and in the past the cork processing industry was at fault in either not understanding how best to process its raw materials or not taking the trouble to put that knowledge into practice. In my experience the percentage of 'corked' wines has fallen greatly over the last four or five years so maybe the cork industry is getting its act together and the blame may shift to the other potential culprits.
Unlike Andy Whiteman, I don't think that the Sainsbury's spokesman's comment 'quality remains the most important factor' is 'shocking'. When I buy a bottle of wine I expect it to taste good and so, I suspect, do most other purchasers.
It is obvious, here in Portugal, that the cork industry is looking for other ways to promote its wares but I hope that it will continue to fight for its market as the premier wine bottle closure producer by adhering to the highest possible quality standards to remove doubts from purchasers' minds. It can be this positive approach, rather than the more negative one of accepting a simplistic view that what's best for the environment, regardless of how the wine tastes, will best help preserve landscapes, lifestyles and traditions in the Alentejo.
Chris Wallen, Tavira, Portugal
IMG height=13 src="http://www.decanter.com/images/newsletter/button.gif" width=25 NOSEND="1">I agree with Lance from South Africa. When we looked into the issue a year ago we were confused as to conflicting messages coming from the cork industry. All available figures at the time suggested that production of cork is going up not down.
The Cork Quality Council, the Chairman of the cork industry body APCOR Antonio Amorim , APCOR's own website www.realcork.org, and other official sources all claim the cork forests themselves and the cork industry are both healthy and expanding. Indeed the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE) indicates an 853.8 million euros (159.4 thousand tonnes) figure for Portuguese cork exports in 2007, thus registering an increase of 0.6 percent, in export value, compared to 2006. This increase denotes a recovery of Portuguese cork exports which had been affected, in 2005, by the depreciation of the dollar in relation to the euro.
Confused of London
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Hardly surprising response from Sainsbury's or from Supremecorq from my experience selling thousands of bottles a year with many still with cork closures the incidence of cork taint is very low the main reason for alternative closures.
