Could You Drink Screw-Top Wine To Save The Planet?

I'm confused about this saving the planet thing with a screw cap.

Cork is a renewable resource. The cork forest of Europe take up over 2.7 million hacres and support a diverse bunch of animals including megafauna like the Iberian Lynx.

The trees are only harvested every 10 years or so, so the forest and their inhabitants are left alone (unlike other forest crops like coffee and cocoa).

With lower demand on cork those forests will be burned or cut down to become other much more intensive-use areas.

Cork taint is more like 1-2%, and not all of those are undrinkably corked. Screw tops are more of a cost cutting measure than anything.

Screw tops are fine for some whites and wines made to be drank young, but the slow oxidation through the cork is part of the process of aging wines over the course of years.

Also, using natural cork, like eating sustainably grown rare meats and heirloom vegetables, is actually one of the best ways to keep the cork forests (and the critters that inhabit them) from being tilled under or paved over.

I'm an avid wine drinker and do not discriminate based on cork/screwtop or bottle/box.

I have always wondered if there was some middle ground where we could use cork more efficiently. I'm thinking if we put a bit of cork at the top of the screw top, either in place of the rubber seal that's typically in there or alternatively inside the rubber seal sticking slightly into the bottle. If that worked, we could get far (I would estimate 5-10) more bottles with the same amount of cork. It would be the cork equivalent of getting 125-250 mpg in your car.

No No No.
Converting to screwtops is the worst thing you could do for biodiversity. The cork forests of the Mediterranean regions are some of the most biologically diverse habitats, and have been sustainably managed and harvested for millenia. If there is no demand for cork, then the cork forests will be cut down.

Maybe using screwtops will save the winemakers some cash, and perhaps some carbon emissions but the cork harvesting process helps maintain globally important ecosystems in biodiversity hotspots.
Please, Treehugger, don't lose sight of the fact that the environment is about much much more than carbon efficiency.
Luckily i think too many people take too much pleasure from the slow process of opening a bottle of wine with a cork, for cork demand to completely dry up.

Screwcaps are almost universal in Australia – I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've had a bottle with a cork closure over the past couple of years. Even the premium 'for-ageing' wines are starting to be put under screwcap, as trials have shown the wine ages as well or better than under cork.

Extra bonus: you don't have to remember to bring a corkscrew on picnics any more!

Cork is grown in forrests, which are only visited for harvest every seven years. The Spanish wolf lives there. Srew-top = no cork = no forrest = no Spanish wolf.

Screw-top to save the planet is a STUPID and sensationalist headline.

Cork comes from forests and is a renewable resource. Without consumption of cork the forests might as well get plowed over for something else. Whether or not they are recycled/composted is irrelevant because it's doubtful twist off caps will get recycled at a higher rate than cork.

Cork is sustainable. There is nothing wrong using it - actually using cork means the forests will stay.

A lot of the cork, used for wine, comes from sustainable forests that have trees that are hundreds of years old. I think a lot of the problem is some wine houses try to save money and buy cheap crap cork.

I think the 1 in 10 wines being corked is a bit excessive. I worked in restaurants for several years and we would only find the occasional corked wine. I would say finding a genuinely corked bottle was 1 in 30 cases.

We would look and (if necessary) sniff the cork before offering the wine for tasting. Some customers would complain, even if we saw there was no problem with the wine. They would get another bottle and we would usually sell it by the glass (unless it was really corked then it would go back to the distributor)

Doug is right. This is also the reason why plastic corks should be rejected out of hand. Cork is natural and is sustainably harvested.

The flat bottom idea is good though.

Mainly though, wine bottles could be reusable. Why are we not reusing them? Screw caps are a trivial fix in comparison to re-using the bottles themselves. Why does each brand have to have a slightly different shape? The industry could settle on perhaps 3 bottle types in thee glass colors for the whole world and do branding through the label. The shape of the bottle hardly changes the taste, does it?

With standard bottle types, you don't need to ship the bottle all the way back to the original winemaker, but rather to the nearest one that uses that bottle. A bit of computer work can work out the logistics of this.

I'd rather demand a corked bottle to help save the cork forests.

Save the world? From what? The extinction of cork trees?

While I'm not trying to be trite and say that the world can live without them (I would rather they didn't go extinct, like a lot of other things), it's like trying to save a listing ship by tossing out your pocket lint instead of throwing the elephant overboard.

We too often focus on "the little things we can all do to make a difference" instead of the big things that must be done to actually solve the problem.

I think there is something to be said for screwetops. Screwtops can be a renewable source as well, if they are remelted and thus re-used. They are easily taken out of the rubbish by a magnet.
Corkforests are magnificent and I agree that they should be protected, but the demand for cork is far bigger than the production. In Europe, even the snooty French have started to screwtop their bottles, as it does not have a bad effect on the taste at all.
So don't dismiss this idea too readily.

Switch to box wine already.
It lasts longer (no air in the bag), packs flat when empty, and is easier to recycle than bottles.
At least, that's what I heard on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93313809

I personally don't drink wine, except for the occasional niagara ice wine.
I'd be interested to see if one could box microbrew beer or if the carbonation would be an issue.

I agree with the above commenters on the safekeeping of the cork forests.

Also, the indentation on the bottom of the bottle does serve a purpose: to capture sediment in some reds. Notice that not all of your super-fancy wines have such a punt, and that some have more of one than others? This is why.

It is like other parts of slow-food: it is a small added feature that contributes to the over quality and enjoyment of the item.

Doing away with corks is a bad idea. In Italy, there are crops of corks trees that are now endangered due to urbanization. Without a demand for cork, these trees with be done away with in the name of progress.

Cork, as we know and use it, is actually the bark of the cork tree. It takes decades for a tree to grow to an age where a sufficient amount can be harvested from the living tree. Generations of practice has developed ways of harvesting the bark without damaging the tree. In truth, the trees are healthier with this harvest. So much so, that younger trees are harvested from even if there is not enough cork to actually utilize.

A year ago, when I first learned this, I took a stance of not purchasing screw tops anymore to help keep the demand up on cork and protect the trees. I stand by this practice and encourage anyone who wants to be "green" to do the same since cork is a natural product and screw tops are manufactured from ores (and therefore have a higher carbon foot print).

~DB

NONONONONO!!!!

I will NEVER buy a bottle of wine with a screw top. Quite apart from the importance of retaining the cork forests, there is the simple romance of the thing. Opening a bottle of wine... that delightful slow pull, then the wonderful 'plurpppp' as the cork comes loose, and the gentle aroma of the wine on the base of the cork and emanating from the opened bottle. Cork has been used for generations - it works... why change it?! A far greater problem are the plastic corks I see a lot of now. We can't avoid those when buying the wine as there is no way to see, and as far as I know they are not recyclable... But screwtop wine?! I would rather drink hideous Coca Cola!

it seems like the commentors and maybe to some extent the article have both missed the point. One of the commentors brushed past it but was quickly sidetracked. The point is that cork production can't sustain the demand from all of the wineries purchasing cork. We shouldn't stop buying cork, we should continue to use it and thus keep saving the forests and the spanish wolves, yada yada whatever. But screwtops do offer a plausible alternative for when cork production just can't keep up with the demand. Screwtops can be useful for bottles like whites that don't need aging, etc. and those that will be drunk immediately. The point is that with a higher demand these days for "wine-bottle-closing-mechanisms" having BOTH cork and screwtops seems to be the best solution.

Most wine is corked with plastic corks now anyway, so all of this discussion about cork trees is moot.
The fact is that screw tops are easier to open and reseal and use less material than the plastic corks that they replace (which work better than the real corks they replaced and are recyclable to boot).
I suspect that the screw tops are cheaper and the flat bottom bottles are cheaper, so if the winery made the wine a little cheaper it would have an advantage in the market.
Deciding which wine is sometimes decided by 50 cents for me.
Perhaps there should be a mandated posting of the energy cost of packaging on the product, then the disadvantage of less elaborate packaging could be offset by the low energy use which (for me anyway) would be a selling feature.

It really annoys me to buy a frozen pizza and the outer box serves no purpose except as a place to print the instructions and the glossy graphics. Then it takes up half the trashcan when it us tossed.

NO

this article does not belong here

I'd be sad to see the cork forests go, too, but it's worth pointing out that there are no cork forests in the southern hemisphere, or in north or south America – they're all in the western Mediterranean region.

So corks have to be shipped over here, whereas the screwcap can be made locally. Maybe keep the corks, but only use them close to their homes?

Zenchild wins this discussion.

Yay, Zenchild! I completely agree.

There are more and more people buying more and more wine every day. How long could the cork forests keep up if every single bottle required a bit of their cambium layer? They'd probably be safer as protected parks.

For truly special bottles, use the cork and punt. But for everyday and cooking wines, I don't mind the screw cap. Besides, if your nose and palate are so refined that you can tell the difference, you should be drinking the upper echelon, anyway!

P.S. As a waitress, I love screw caps. If I have 6 other tables that need my attention, I just don't always have the time for a full, leisurely bottle service.

Everybody who reads this needs to check out www.savemiguel.com/facts.html. Cork trees do more good offseting carbon when the cork is harvested. This subject should not be about the taste of wine, but the effects on the environment. Check out the other side of this issue before you change your buying habits.

If wine in a bottle with a cork goes off it is said to be 'corked'. If the same thing happens with a screw-top would the wine be 'screwed'?

Also will the BYO restuarants open your bottle nd then charge you 'screwage'?