page_title: Cork (material)
hierarchical_section_title: Cork (material)
caption_attribution_description: English: A cork stopper of a wine bottle (made from composite cork); says "bottled in France" Français&#160;: Un bouchon de liège pour bouteille de vin
context_page_description: Cork is a material that is harvested for commercial use primarily from the bark of the Cork Oak tree. As the cork is harvested. Portugal produces 50% of cork worldwide.
  Cork's elasticity together with its near-impermeability makes it suitable as a material for bottle stoppers, especially for wine bottles. Cork stoppers represent about 60% of all cork based production. Cork's low density makes it a suitable material for fishing floats and buoys, as well as handles for fishing rods. Cork is also used in the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly woodwind instruments, where it is used to fasten together different segments of the instrument and make the seams airtight.
  The cork industry is generally regarded as environmentally friendly. The sustainability of its production and the easy recycling of cork products and by-products are two of its most distinctive aspects.
  Cork demand has increased due to a larger proportion of wine being sealed with cork rather than being sold in bulk. Top quality corks are quite expensive, so many cheaper brands have switched to lower quality cork, synthetic plastic stoppers, screwcaps, or other closures.
context_section_description: Cork is a material that is harvested for commercial use primarily from the bark of the Cork Oak tree. As the cork is harvested. Portugal produces 50% of cork worldwide.
  Cork's elasticity together with its near-impermeability makes it suitable as a material for bottle stoppers, especially for wine bottles. Cork stoppers represent about 60% of all cork based production. Cork's low density makes it a suitable material for fishing floats and buoys, as well as handles for fishing rods (as an alternative to neoprene). Cork is also used in the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly woodwind instruments, where it is used to fasten together different segments of the instrument and make the seams airtight.
  The cork industry is generally regarded as environmentally friendly. The sustainability of its production and the easy recycling of cork products and by-products are two of its most distinctive aspects.
  Cork demand has increased due to a larger proportion of wine being sealed with cork rather than being sold in bulk. Top quality corks are quite expensive, so many cheaper brands have switched to lower quality cork, synthetic plastic stoppers, screwcaps, or other closures.
caption: A cork stopper for a wine bottle
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-FZ20", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.8", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:18 18:42:19", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "422", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6762", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7372", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:01:21 11:47:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:01:21 11:47:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "157/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1725", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1608", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "94", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}