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The cork tree is a typically Mediterranean tree, with evergreen leaves, the bark of which has been used for centuries. Cork tree forests or groves form a natural environment of great beauty, which in some cases are classified as nature reserves which make an attractive tourist destination, and are of huge ecological value, since they are the habitat of numerous species such as the imperial eagle, the stork, the pardal lynx, the ichneumon, the genet and the Barbary deer, amongst many others. 

The fact that there are large amounts of cork trees in Spain is not only due to their natural characteristics, such as their suitability to the Mediterranean climate and their high resistance to fire compared to other species, but also to the valuable raw material they offer for industrial use. 

However, the gradual rural population drift and the priority that is sometimes given to agricultural use of the land occupied by cork trees can lead to a reduction of the area they cover, Spain currently has around 27 per cent of the world’s cork groves, which are situated mainly on the Mediterranean coast and in Andalusia and Extremadura. 

Cork 

The tree bark is extracted approximately once every ten years, without having to fell the tree and with a minimal environmental cost. The cork is obtained from this bark, a material which has a wide variety of uses thanks to its insulating capacity and its light weight. It is, for example, used as an insulating material for properties, for both soundproofing and insulation. The shipping industry also uses it, due to its light weight and floatability, and the glass and ceramics sectors also use ground and granulated cork. Even NASA has used it for certain components on space missions.

However, if there is one use that characterises it and is associated to its name, it is for sealing bottles. More than 60% of all cork extracted has been used for this purpose, since a French monk called Perignon discovered that by inserting a piece of hot cork into the neck of a bottle of wine, more than four centuries ago, it sealed it when it cooled down. Since then cork seals and wine have formed a loyal partnership and it seems fair to say that they will stay together for many more years to come. 

The advantage of cork seals is that they allow the wine to breathe, although once the bottle is lying down in the cellar, the wine moistens the cork and stops oxygen from entering. For this reason, wine tasting experts look at and smell the cork when they open a bottle. A moist cork that smells of wine is a good sign that the wine is of good quality, given that these indications show that the bottle has been lying down, the optimum position for correct storage. They also take other characteristics of the cork into consideration, such as its flexibility and length. Finally, it is worth pointing out that the “Catalan Cork Regulations” are an international authority in the wine sector. 

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