World Cork Supply?!
World Cork Supply?
Is the world's supply of cork running out?
Answers:
Cork is a renewable resource. It is made primarily from wood products. As a result, as long as the demand is not excessive, it is constantly being renewed.
There is also a lot of composite cork, taking pieces of woods and chemically bind them into a cork. Of course, there are plenty of cheaper wineries that use plastic corks and even twist tops.
The best natural cork are limited in supply, because they do the job of sealing the wine in and keeping the air out. They tend to be expensive and found in the momre expensive wines, at least $50-60. As a result, they keep wine for 10-20 years or even longer. The cheaper quality natural cork are plenty and found in mid price wines. The cheaper wines tend to use the cheaper composites or plastic corks.
I would not worry about running out of cork supply, though. When the supply is low, the demand will be high and so will the price. At that time, it will be extremely costly for the winery to use natural corks that only a few would able to afford the real thing. As long as the price is high, there will be plenty of farmers willing to grow the trees to make the cork.
at current consumption it will. that is why alot of wineries are switching to composites.