Tuesday Troll: Use cork, save the earth ...

[Robin Garr]

Let the flaming begin!

Rainforest Alliance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2007

Contacts: Gretchen Ruethling, 646-452-1939, gruethling@ra.org (New York)
Jamie Lawrence, (0034) 91 6922783, jlawrence@ra.org (Madrid)

<B>Cheers to Willamette Valley Vineyards: Oregon-based Winery First to Use Certified Sustainable Cork Stoppers</B>

The Rainforest Alliance raises a glass to Willamette Valley Vineyards, which is set to become the first winery in the world to use cork stoppers harvested from responsibly managed forestlands certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The winery, based in Turner, Oregon, was recently awarded FSC Chain-of-Custody certification by the Rainforest Alliance.

“Cork stoppers that come from responsibly managed forestlands are the only choice for wineries that want to have a positive environmental and social impact,” said Jamie Lawrence, European Forestry Division Manager for the Rainforest Alliance. “Willamette’s commitment to supporting responsible cork production in rural communities in the Mediterranean is commendable and progressive, fitting of a world-class winery that focuses on making sustainable choices.”

The Rainforest Alliance was responsible for awarding FSC certification at each step throughout the process, beginning with certifying the worlds first cork forest in 2005, later certifying the cork manufacturing facilities, owned by the Amorim Group, and now certifying Willamette Valley Vineyards to help achieve this global first in the wine industry.

Carlos de Jesus, marketing and communications director for Amorim & Irmaos S.A., the world’s largest cork processor and the first FSC-certified cork company, congratulated Willamette on its certification. “We would like to emphasize the unique role that natural cork plays in responding to the market demands for environmentally and socially responsible wine closures,” de Jesus said. “The wine industry is responding to a demand by informed consumers that is resulting in the conservation of fragile ecosystems and the reduction of the industry’s carbon footprint.”

The use of cork is essential to protect the environment as wineries are increasingly using plastic stoppers and aluminum screw caps due to concerns about tainting, oxidation and leakage. However, ensuring that forests are managed responsibly and are also economically viable plays a crucial role in conserving them and maintaining the culture of cork farming that has existed for thousands of years. Cork is renewable and biodegradable, and not a single tree is cut down to harvest cork. The bark of the cork oak tree renews itself and can be stripped off every decade to extract cork without damaging the trees.

The wine industry plays a critical role in maintaining the economic value of cork and the cork oak forests. Unless the commercial value of cork stoppers is maintained, there is a risk that cork oak landscapes could face an economic crisis, loss of biodiversity and an accelerated desertification process. Cork oak landscapes cover about 2.7 million hectares of land in Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. The cork forests in the Iberian Peninsula produce more than half the cork consumed worldwide. They are a biodiversity hot spot, home to endangered species and one of the last natural forest ecosystems in Western Europe. They also provide a vital source of income for tens of thousands of people.

Willamette Valley Vineyards produces some 100,000 cases of principally Pinot Noir annually that is distributed throughout the United States, Canada and the Pacific Rim. Starting with the 2006 vintage Pinot Noir that will be bottled in July 2007, the winery will begin using FSC-certified cork stoppers in all its bottles. The corks will be imprinted with the FSC and Rainforest Alliance logo, and bottle labels will also bear both certification seals. The wine will be available to consumers in the United States starting in fall 2007 and with plans to distribute in the United Kingdom in the next couple years.

“We think about every aspect of how we can walk as softly as possible in pursuing our goal of making world-class Pinot Noir,” said Jim Bernau, founder and president of Willamette Valley Vineyards. “The question is: What is the best choice for the long-term health of the planet? The clear answer is natural cork that comes from a responsibly managed forest.”

Willamette Valley Vineyard’s cork stoppers will come from one of four currently FSC-certified cork forests, three of which were certified by the Rainforest Alliance, the first of which being Fruticor – a group of small landowners and managers – that was certified by the Rainforest Alliance in early 2005 in the Alentejo region of Portugal.

Why choose cork? Find out more here:

http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/news ... _cork.html


See photos of cork harvesting:

http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/news ... how_5.html



The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. For more information, visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org

Media Contact:

Willamette Valley Vineyards
Shelby Zadow
Shelby.Zadow@wvv.com
503.588.9463 (work)
503.913.2009 (cell)

Carlos de Jesus
Amorim & Irmaos S.A
carlos.dejesus.ai@amorim.com

Gretchen Ruethling
Communications Coordinator, Media Outreach
Rainforest Alliance
665 Broadway, Suite 500
New York, NY 10012-2331
646-452-1939
gruethling@ra.org

To become a member go to:
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org

It's interesting on Guidestar to read the Rainforest Alliance's 990, where it seems that their largest source of income is "certification fees" for this program. Over $4 million in 2004- bet it's growing! Anyone want to bet that Amorim is the one of the largest fee-payers? Call me just a tad cynical.

Sounds like something to come out of Oregon, although it is not a bad idea. Every little bit helps. Carole and I have been trying to reduce our carbon footprint -- we've been slowly replacing all of our incandescent bulbs.

It is estimated at least $15 billion of electricity is consumed by the incandescent bulbs, and that by replacing them with more energy efficient types of lightbulbs-primarily compact fluorescents--that $15 billion could be cut in half.

Continuing the "trolling" theme, some have argued that CFs do not last, on average, nearly as long as their advocates claim, and that the mercury in the CF bulbs is a toxic waste, unlike incandescents. (Plus, I absolutely hate the light. I actually do have several in my house).

Likewise, replacing your older wood windows with new energy efficient ones often means toxic vinyl windows, not to forget the loss of the mebodied energy in the older wooden windows, which are typically jettisoned.

Troll Hat "Off."

From their website:

1) The technical performance of cork stoppers has been proven for centuries, even today in the age of synthetic stoppers.

2) Cork stoppers are reliable in the short and long term. Wines bottled with cork remain well-preserved for decades or even centuries. Almost all the wines bottled before the 1990’s used cork.

Both claims are just stupid. Cork's technical performance is indeed proven--and found wanting--and that's why it's being replaced.

These people are nuts.

Dave,
pretty funny. "You can't switch because we've been at it (and failing a fair amount of the time) longer"


Randy and Brian:
count me as a CFL fan. I've switched everything that's not on a dimmer or where Betsy reads or cooks (she doesn't care for the light quality as much) to a compact fluorescent. Can't swear that they last as long as claimed, but I change a LOT less lightbulbs. As to mercury, it is best to take the (finally) burnt out CFL to a recycle center, but if not it's a pretty neglible amount released (less than produced by a coal burning plant while making that extra energy for an incandescent). It's easy, $$$-efficient, and with a strong positive consensus in the enviromental community.

I've heard trolls have a very low threshold for TCA...

From their website:

1) The technical performance of cork stoppers has been proven for centuries, even today in the age of synthetic stoppers.

2) Cork stoppers are reliable in the short and long term. Wines bottled with cork remain well-preserved for decades or even centuries. Almost all the wines bottled before the 1990’s used cork.

Both claims are just stupid. Cork's technical performance is indeed proven--and found wanting--and that's why it's being replaced.

These people are nuts.

Seconded. All vehicles before the 1890s used horses, so what. The weakness of these arguments demonstrates the weakness of their position, and I'm a Sierra Clubber.

It's interesting on Guidestar to read the Rainforest Alliance's 990, where it seems that their largest source of income is "certification fees" for this program. Over $4 million in 2004- bet it's growing! Anyone want to bet that Amorim is the one of the largest fee-payers? Call me just a tad cynical.

Having just recently finished Jared Diamond's "Collapse" (a fascinating, if tedious, book) I have a newfound appreciation for the FSC's certification program, which has done real good in the timber industry and provided a model for what the mining industry could/should be doing. Of course, none of that has a thing to do with how well cork functions as a stopper for wine bottles, so I will continue to buy my Stelvin-finished bottles, thankyouverymuch.

Mark Lipton

Thanks for posting this Robin. I learned something very interesting:

"It has been demonstrated that when cork comes in contact with wine, vescalagin from the cork reacts with wine catechins and produces acutissimin A, a very strong anti-tumour agent."

Most of the studies I've seen indicate this reaction occurs when wine comes in contact with oak. See for example http://www.vigne-vin.com/VVPI_Site/webp ... f/4046.pdf

But there is one study demonstrating that cork is more effective: http://www.vigne-vin.com/VVPI_Site/webp ... f/4046.pdf

Regards, Bob

Ah, yes ... just another bunch of ideologues. Let's just hope they don't raise enough money to hire a bunch of lawyer-lobbyists to start pushing for legislation along these lines.

From their website:

1) The technical performance of cork stoppers has been proven for centuries, even today in the age of synthetic stoppers.

2) Cork stoppers are reliable in the short and long term. Wines bottled with cork remain well-preserved for decades or even centuries. Almost all the wines bottled before the 1990’s used cork.

Both claims are just stupid. Cork's technical performance is indeed proven--and found wanting--and that's why it's being replaced.

These people are nuts.

The introduction of cork stoppers, replacing the cloth covered wooden bungs, was probably a revolutionary move at the time. But I would say that there were winemakers in those days that said they would never move to the use of these new fangled bits of tree bark.

I have a newfound appreciation for the FSC's certification program, which has done real good in the timber industry and provided a model for what the mining industry could/should be doing.

I like the idea of the certification program itself. The problem in my mind is when a fairly large non-profit with a large full-time staff has the largest single source of its revenues (almost$5 million) being voluntary fees from those they are supposedly watching. I would guess that the vast majority of RA's staff took the jobs because of a passion for enviromentalism. But at some point when you're thinking about the mortgage, college fund, dental bills etc its pretty hard to not think of maximizing revenues.

But we're getting offtopic. I still have trouble taking Amorin and the cork industry's "trust us, we solved the problem" after years of relentless campaigning to deny there was a problem.

[David M. Bueker]

Maybe the cork industry can get Jason Giambi to apologize for them.

We're sorry for all that stuff that happened, but the winemakers really should apologize.

[Robin Garr]

I still have trouble taking Amorin and the cork industry's "trust us, we solved the problem" after years of relentless campaigning to deny there was a problem.

At the risk of shilling for the cork industry, Dale, this isn't 100 percent fair. It should be noted that at Amorim, at least (and it pretty much speaks for the cork industry), this awakening may have been forced by circumstances, but it also represented a generational change. The old guard probably would never have admitted that there was a problem. When the younger generation (Antonio Amorim) took over, they not only admitted that there was a problem but put a very large investment into research and development to address it. Sure, it's a huge business, and they're going to spin everything as positively as it can. But the changes in the industry are neither entirely cynical nor merely cosmetic.

cork stoppers harvested from responsibly managed forestlands certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

As opposed to what sort of cork stoppers? Presumably those harvested from responsibly managed forestlands NOT certified by the FSC. AFAIK practically all cork in the world comes from farmed trees in Portugal.

I also understand that, despite the move to other stoppers for wine bottles, overall cork usage is increasing so there is no current threat to the forests. Great. Cork tiles are nice to walk on. Just don't mess up my wine with it.

[James Roscoe]

Maybe they could make cork shirts for ten and eleven year olds so I could attach notes directly to their bodies? I am sure there are many uses for cork that don't involve putting bacteria into the food supply.