100% Cork Campaign Reaches Millions with Messages About the Benefits of Wines Sealed with Natural Cork

07 Jul 2011

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100% Cork has announced that its campaign to educate wine consumers about the technical, social and environmental benefits of natural cork wine closures has achieved a number of significant milestones during its first year.

The campaign's Facebook page has surpassed 50,000 fans to become one of the top wine-related social media communities.

Coverage of the 100% Cork campaign by the media has exceeded 60 million in circulation.

Advertisements in The New York Times, on National Public Radio and the in Natural Resource Defense Council's On Earth magazine have reached millions more.

Videos produced by the campaign have been viewed by approximately 200,000 people.

The ca

mpaign has been endorsed by a growing number of wineries and the Sommelier Society of America.

"We are gratified that the story of cork is resonating so strongly with wine drinkers," said Peter Weber, Executive Director of the Cork Quality Council. "We have created an authentic and lasting dialogue about what it means to actively choose wine with a closure made from a sustainable, natural product like cork compared to a closure derived from either plastic or aluminum."

At the same time, the sale of the Top 100 wines priced above $6 per bottle have increased sharply in the past year, and these same wines are commanding a higher price than those closed with artificial stoppers, according to data.

"It is clearer than ever that U.S. wine drinkers overwhelmingly prefer wines sealed with cork," Weber said. "Cork remains synonymous with quality wine and is the ideal closure for the presentation and preservation of wine. Moreover, consumers are even more inclined to choose wines with cork when they understand its environmental benefits."

Cork is derived from the bark of cork oak trees that are never cut down and which form vast forests in the Mediterranean Basin. Contrary to popular belief, there is no shortage of cork, and the production of cork does not harm the oak trees. In fact, the use of cork provides an incentive to plant and maintain the trees, which every year offset the carbon produced by 2.5 million cars and provide habitat for 25,000 plant and animal species.

As well as being sustainable, biodegradable and recyclable, cork requires far less energy to produce than artificial wine closures: Plastic stoppers and metal screw caps produce 10-24 times more greenhouse gases, respectively, and consume as much as five times more non-renewable energy than real cork over their life-cycles, according to a peer-reviewed study.

The World Wildlife Fund has called the use of plastic and metal wine closures a "major threat" to Mediterranean cork oak forests because their use undermines demand for cork.

Source: 100PercentCork