Just don't support wineries who use corks! Many wineries, even some of the very best, use screwtops on their wines. Better yet, there are those with 100% recyclable synthetic corks that actually improve the quality of the wine, as there is a 0% chance of cork taint. Wineries like Thumbprint Cellars also refuse to use foils on the bottles, as this is purely waste - the need for foil seals disappeared when we stopped shipping wine on rat-infested ocean liners (the metal seals were to prevent the critters from chewing through the corks).

Forget the cork - it's just a bad, bad packaging call.

Wine corks make for excellent kindling.

We ought to be supporting wineries and others who use real cork! Using cork rather than synthetic stoppers helps prevent the Iberian lynx from becoming extinct. The lynx is indigenous only to cork oak forests in Spain and Portugal from which cork is obtained, so the use of synthetic stoppers, which has been increasing in recent years because is it no doubt cheaper, "provides disincentive for the animals' natural habitat to be preserved."

"In 2002, the Iberian lynx became the first wild cat to be placed on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by The World Conservation Union
(WCU). There are only about 150 members of the species and fewer than 30 females capable
of reproduction currently alive. If the lynx does
become extinct, it will be the first cat to die out since the sabre-toothed tiger disappeared 10,000years ago, said former WCU Cat Specialist Group Chairman Peter Jackson.
(Environmental new service, 23 June 2003)

Propaganda by the manufacturers of
screw tops and plastic corks causes many people to think that cork stoppers are bad for the
environment when in fact the opposite is true.
Cork oak savannahs not only protect biodiversity and wildlife that is on the brink of extinction, they are reportedly "a hedge against desertification caused by global warming as the Sahara creeps into Europe."

And how do you recycle plastic corks? I live where recycling is common practice, but they only take plastic bottles, tubs and some bags, not plastic corks, so off they go to the landfill. Real cork is sustainable; synthetic and screw caps are not. And you can help the Iberian Lynx.

In addition to Iberian Lynx territory, the Cork Savana habitat is very important to birds in Spain and Portugal.  Audubon Magazine had a recent article that talked about the whole issue and came down very strongly on the importance of continuing use of real cork - a sustainable natural product - for wine.  

I had previously been a proponent of plastic corks for the reason stated by Tod with regard to wine spoiled by bad corks.  But upon reading the Audubon article, which explains how the industry produces corks that don't fail, I have seen the light!  I will encourage my home winemaking co-operative to continue using high quality real corks to support the birds (and other fauna and flora) of the Cork Savana. Barbara

has anyone done work on the new-fangled aseptic wine containers and bags?  The companies that use these claim that they "save packaging," but I can't see how that would be, since aseptic container recycling is hardly universal.  I guess it is because they contain more wine than a bottle, generally??

I CAN see how the shipping costs/energy would be less, since these containers weigh far less than a bottle does.  

Still, I can't see how the material itself is inherently superior to glass, which as we all know is so easily recycled.  Thoughts?

natural cork can be sustainably harvested and then composted... seems like a nice loop to me, if only we could get it transported via solar powered boat! dripping a little wax on the end creates a good seal so the wine doesn't spoil (can beeswax be composted? I assume yes...)

and by the way, making wine yourself is easy (way simpler than making beer), with big potential environmental benefits:

only drive once or twice to get a year's worth of wine... (we pick up fruit "seconds" at the local farmer's market)

use local produce (here in michigan, we use apples, peaches, pears and cherries...)

reuse same bottles each year (can't reuse corks unfortunately....)

additionally, you can use the larger wine bottles to cut down on how much cork you use

seriously, making wine is easy and a great thing to bring to potlucks!!! try it!

All tests show that natural cork is the worst possible closure for wine. It satisfies 'purists' but not those who are after quality. Imagine paying $100 for a bottle of wine and having it tainted (approx. 6% of all wines with corks suffer from taint - a failure rate that would put any other product manufacturer out of business)

that's a ridiculous idea! Consumption doesn't save anything. I'm so tired of people believing they can 'do good' through buying products. Ugh.

Recyclable plastic corks can be recycled anywhere plastic bottles can be recycled. However, I'm sure there are types that are not (check before buying - as you'll have to do with Savannah cork - how does one know if one is buying lynx-friendly cork, by the way?)

Either way, at the end of the day, the amount of water used in the wine industry and the amount of pesticides employed make wine a dubious industry to support in this time of crisis. There are, of course, wineries who are extremely dedicated to environmental protection (Preston, Medlock-Ames, for example), but they are quite rare and make up less than .00001 percent of annual U.S. sales.

Any synthetic product, especially petroleum-based products, are short-term solutions at best.  The entire cycle of cork, a natural material, is much more sustainable for the planet and requires us to pay attention to tightly woven fabric of the life web.  

As for recycling options, I would add the use of ground cork for raising orchards.  A company in California claims it is the best material for orchards is used wine corks.