Corks or screw tops?

The other night I watched a film created by Mike Salisbury (for BBC Natural World) about the cork oaks in southern Portugal.  If you ever see it, you will think twice before buying wine with screw top or plastic stoppers – cork is best, at least for wildlife.

Cork is the traditional way of sealing wine and the bark of these magnificent oaks is harvested every nine years without hurting the trees. A single tree can produce 4,000 corks with workers using sharp axes to cut long lengths which are peeled away, stacked high on a trailer and taken to the cork factory. Biodiversity blossoms in these cork forests with a rich mix of birdlife, 26 species of bats and black pigs feasting on the acorns.

All worked well until something happened ... I’m not sure if it was the lure of EU farm payments resulting in less production or the sudden dramatic growth of wine consumption in the 1980s. But either way the result was that cork producers could not keep up with demand. This period coincided with some dodgy corks hitting the market with dodgy meaning contamination with TCA (TriChloroAnisole), the principal cause of corked wine.  

Enter the plastic stoppers and metal screw tops. Game over? The film shows the work of a passionate man called Francisco keeping his part of the forest alive and productive. New procedures have eliminated almost all incidence of TCA through a double dunk of the raw cork into boiling water. But alas the ease of screw top use is here to stay. It’s just too convenient although wine merchants and supermarkets tend towards cork for their more expensive bottles.

Does it affect the quality? For my own part the thought of that abundant wildlife would enhance the perceived quality beyond all measure.

As for the film, I enjoyed it as an event laid on by the Snowdonia Society. Events in March include an introduction to hand-made dancing clogs with Trefor Owen of Cricieth on 6^th March and a guided walk amongst the rare native wild daffodils of Snowdonia led by Rod Gritten on the 26^th March.  For more details on either of these events please contact huw@snowdonia-society.org.uk

Polecats and Corks

Two outstanding wildlife films will be shown on Wednesday 20^th February starting 7pm and introduced by their creators.

MASKED RAIDERS The Polecat Story.  Created by Geoff and Heather Gartside and narrated by Mike Salisbury. This dramatised film tells the story of how, by the end of World War One, polecats were brought to the very brink of extinction in Britain. What could have caused such a rapid decline and what is happening to the polecat today? The answers are intriguing!

Using dramatised re-constructions and little seen archive material, this film beautifully documents the intense, long running battle between gamekeepers and polecats. It's what almost caused the polecat's demise as a British mammal and their recovery from that dire situation is a story of survival against the odds.

CORK - Forest in a Bottle. Created by Mike Salisbury and narrated by Monty Don.  The Cork Oak forests of Southern Portugal, the Montado, form one of the most significant and beautiful wildlife areas in all of Europe.  Without coming to any harm, Cork Oaks can be stripped of their bark every nine years to be made into the billions of stoppers we use to close our wine bottles. The economic value of traditional cork production has protected this ancient landscape and its rich wildlife until today but more and more use of plastic stoppers and metal screw caps could bring huge changes.

This film follows a season in the remarkable natural history of the Montado and in the life of cork farmer Francisco Garrett who cares passionately about conservation.  He asks whether the future of so much wildlife could rest on the seemingly trivial choices that we might make as consumers of wine.

Wednesday 20^th February at Y Caban , Brynrefail, Llanberis.

Two-course meal: £10 and booking is essential. Serving 6pm.

Watching the films: donations on the door (suggested minimum donation £3 for members, £5 for non-members).

Contact Snowdonia Society for more details: 01286 695498 info@snowdonia-society.org.uk