Winemakers are increasingly looking for closures that complement their environmental philosophy as well as their stylistic needs and budget. As a winemaker myself, that meant a biodegradable, plastic-free closure with a low carbon footprint and zero TCA (2, 4, 6-Trichloroanisole, a chemical compound found in cork that causes taint). But if you scour the web for this stopper, you’ll soon discover, as I did, that it does not exist.
“It’s the easiest attack in the world to say: ‘Don’t use, its plastic.’ But micro-agglos [corks which use plastic as a binder to cork dust] can be up to 50 percent polyurethane; screw caps use a plastic liner; and even natural corks use a silicone coating,” says Mike Clayton, the brand manager, North America, at Vinventions, a global provider of closure solutions.
Plastic has found its way into almost every closure, but as with many questions of sustainability, nothing is that clear cut. Just because a product contains plastic doesn’t mean it should be written off; some plastics are made from fossil fuels, while others come from biological sources. From an environmental perspective, there’s a real difference—biologically-derived plastics can have lower carbon footprints than their peers. Similarly, just because something is plastic free, or mostly so, doesn’t mean it gets a free pass.
A Centuries-Old Closure Solution
Cork has been wine’s best friend for centuries, and its sustainability credentials are well documented. Cork forests are carbon sinks, pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it for generations. They are crucial to their ecosystems and provide habitats for endemic species, like the endangered Iberian Lynx. “Each natural cork sequesters 309 grams of CO2,” says Patrick Spencer, the executive director of the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance. “If demand doesn’t stay strong for cork forests, farmers will be forced to plant other crops, which could be invasive and change the ecosystem and biodiversity in those forests.”
When cork is processed, every part is utilized and whatever remains can be burned to generate power for the production line. “Cork generates, literally, no waste,” says Carlos De Jesus, the director of marketing and communications at cork producer Amorim. “Every little bit of cork harvested is used in countless applications. Even the dust generated during [cork stopper] production is captured and used to generate zero-emissions energy. At Amorim, over 66 percent of our energy needs are met this way.”
Natural cork closures are tried and true, but not without their flaws. They allow air in, but at inconsistent rates.
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