My husband and I enjoy the occasional
bottle of wine. But which is better for the environment — wine
with plastic corks or real ones?
In recent years, plastic corks have gained a strong position in
the wine market — even metal screw-on lids seem to be gaining
on more traditional corks. The reasoning behind the switch, however,
isn't due to environmental issues but to a type of wine contamination
known as "cork taint." That is, some wines (the generally
accepted estimate is two to 10 percent) acquire a musty, flat taste
after reacting with 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). TCA in cork has
been ascribed to pesticide use by cork farmers in the 1960s and 70s,
as well as to chlorine washes farmers use to clean cork. However,
it has also been found in any number of other locations — a very
common environmental pollutant.
The anti-cork vintners claim that the risk of losing millions of
bottles of wine every year is great enough to necessitate new wine
sealing practices — plastic corks or metal lids. Perhaps the
plastic corks are more difficult to remove than the traditional
bark corks, but it's a small price to pay.
However, supporters of the old-fashioned bark corks claim that
cork taint isn't entirely due to, well, cork. TCA, they say, can
appear at any stage of the wine-making process, in barrels, airborne
molds, or even in unsuitably maintained home cellars. TCA has been
found in bottled water, raisins, soft drinks, and even in wine with
plastic or metal closures.
More importantly, the cork industry, they say, protects a traditional
way of life in Spain and Portugal. Cork farming is one of the few
truly sustainable farming practices in common usage, as an individual
tree's bark is removed only once every nine years, and is done without
any damage to the tree whatsoever. Also, cork oak forests on the
Iberian Peninsula are home to highly endangered species like the
Iberian lynx and the Imperial eagle. The UK's Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds warns that, if synthetic corks gain too
much prominence, natural cork's value will plummet, leading to the
destruction of centuries-old forests, with farmers selling out to
upscale housing developers.
For the casual wine drinker, what's readily available might be
the easiest choice — congratulations for even thinking about
the environmental impact of your wine. Currently, natural corks
are the wiser choice, for the environmental footprint of their production,
as well as for the uncertainty of the real causes behind TCA contamination.
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