Put A Cork In It

Here is this year's stash of corks from wines we have known and loved -- or choked down. Whatever.



We save the corks and annually, I make them into wreaths or trivets or line trays with them. Sadly, real corks are going the way of the dinosaur. Many stoppers you will find these days in decent bottles of wine are fricken plastic. They say it doesn't change the flavor of the wine but I detest plastic corks. One cannot make pretty cork wreaths with plastic crap.



Worldwide cork demand has increased due to a larger proportion of wine being sealed with cork rather than being sold in bulk. Since an oak tree's bark can only be harvested once a decade or so, the supply is limited. Top quality corks are quite expensive, so many vinyards have switched to lower quality cork, synthetic plastic stoppers, or even screw caps.

We love wine. We buy a lot of three liters glass jugs with screw caps or we would have a few bushels more of corks per year. Still, we end up with a fair amount for we believe that dinner must always be enjoyed with a complimentary wine.

Yes, we are total wine sots. Some people buy a new car every year or two. We drink wine. Others eat out 2 or 3 times a week. We drink wine. I gave up Manolo's for Martini's but that is another story in itself.

And, as a point of interest, I have been to Cork, Ireland, and mostly everyone drank beer, ale or Irish whisky and there weren't any cork trees that I noticed. When I have time, I'll show you some cork wreaths.
Until then, Salute! Facciamoci un bicchiere!

No, I am not Italian but W4D is. The Flaurella is Irish, German and English and very fiesty.