It takes 40 years for the bark to thicken to about 3 inches before it can be harvested. Until 1680, a lump of olive oil soaked hemp was jammed into the bottle as a stopper. Legendary Dom Perignon was the first to place a cork in his bottles of Champagne. Amorim is the world s largest producer of natural corks producing about 10 million corks per day. The bottle cork is the most profitable use of the bark and fetches about twelve cents a piece in bulk.
Synthetic corks are a medical grade thermoplastic polymer.
The wine industry will use about 14 billion corks this year. Inc is the leader in synthetic cork production. Based in Seattle, Washington, there are rumors that Bill Gates is a large investor in the firm. Today, one tree remains, it has never been harvested. To stave off the devastating financial impact the synthetic cork could have on the Portuguese economy, Amorim has agreed to discontinue the use of the chemical TCA in cork production.