Written with Giorgio de Maria Fun Wines.
Some thoughts on cork
Driving across Sardinia last year we passed forests of ringed cork trees, their trunks torniqueted, their bark protruding from scars around their belly. There’s a complicity, perhaps soft guilt, that I felt driving through the noble trees that have shared their seasons so amply. And yet, perhaps the very fact that we can see the subsequent growth is a happy tale, a tale of true sustainability.
Our favourite environmental crusader, Joost Bakker, certainly thinks so. He has been there recently too, following the bucadori as they scale centenary oak trees harvesting cork. In his post, he credits Allan Savory for the inspiration behind this particular quest – do you remember his incredible TED talk on desertification?
“Allan and I met 2014 when I hosted a dinner for him,” explains Joost via Insta. “Since then the world has lost over 100 million hectares of agricultural land to desert, a global problem that desperately needs solutions. I believe we can learn a lot from this ancient Sardinian method …
“This evergreen Oak - Quercus suber is exceptional at enduring drought and makes little demand on soil fertility or water. I believe it’s a great defence against desertification. Watching grazing animals here in Sardinia able to find shade and pasture under these trees is unbelievable, yesterday I counted 32 species of grasses and herbs growing under one oak.
“Is this industry #circular or #zerowaste ? Absolutely! Especially now that cork granules are replacing mined stone in renders thanks to over 2 decades of research and development by @diegomingarelli I doubt there’s another industry that’s more sustainable.”
I’m pleased they are finding new uses for cork, as we see them used less and less in our wines. Ye olde cork taint - caused by TCA in the bark (in turn thought to be caused by pesticides and wood preservatives, meaning the incidence of cork taint has risen in recent decades) - has long been a thorn, but now coupled with inflated prices (1.50 – 2 euro a cork!) the natural properties of “punched” cork (namely its ability to stop the liquid coming out, while allowing tiny amounts of air to go in – just enough to allow the wine to stay “alive”) have been edged out for newer technologies.
And so down into a rabbit hole of cork alternatives I fell:
Let’s start with the diam cork, which is still made from cork. The tree is harvested (at 7+ years) and the bark is air-dried for 6 – 12 months. Instead of being punched, the cork is pulverised, cleaned (using pressurised CO2) and reconstituted. The great boon of this method is the subsequent “controlled permeability” of the diam cork. Anecdotal evidence from producers certainly suggests that this level of control does help with maturation, producing consistently better wines over the years. The use of polyurethane to hold the cork together has been a hitch, but it is being challenged with new, more sustainable technologies (see here and here).
Synthetic corks, as the name suggests, are made with non-cork products. Not to be discredited so quickly, there are advancements seeing the use of recycled ocean plastics and other biodegradable bi-products.
Finally, there is glass stopper (vinolok) – fully recyclable, yet relatively expensive and with a high rate of oxygen transfer making it not suitable for long-aged wines – and the crown seal (an efficient option for sparkling).
Certainly the take up over here has been much slower (or perhaps more subtle) than over there. A friend opened a bottle here the other day and practically choked on discovering a visibly synthetic cork (I’m sure he’s actually pulled many non-cork corks, just not so flagrantly coloured). He may as well have pulled a dildo from the bottle neck. I keep mum on the screwcap thing. They would die. Vive la France.
Producers:
- I loved this conversation with Emmanuel Houillon-Overnoy, the man who has run the cult Jura wine domain founded by Pierre Overnoy since 2000, and his adoptive son.
“I think we are in a world where money ruins a lot of people. More and more it’s a race to make money off the backs of other people … We exploit the people who work on the raw materials, whether it’s the wine makers, the farmers … We speculate on the price of wheat to sell to poor countries. It’s a shame.
“What bothers me a little is that it’s more than just wine. We put in a lot of emotion or love. It doesn’t really have a lot of value, well, it’s more it has sentimental value. When you open an old bottle to try to relive a moment from the past, it’s something that’s strong … You can’t buy everything.”
He goes on to say that these (on-sold) prices are too high for what they do (a novel concept); he talks about which varieties are coping better through the climactic changes they’re seeing in the Jura (with reference back to difficulties in fermentation we have previously discussed in this missive); alludes to the importance of keeping the grass up in the vineyard, which I think links nicely to this, in Aaron’s newsletter.
Watch the whole mini documentary here. It’s ten minutes in the company of a lovely man with beautiful thoughts. (Note, he always referes to the domaine as “Pierre’s” even though he has now been running it for 24 years. Humble and thoughtful.)
- Some changes were made to the labelling laws in Europe at the end of last year. Many hoped these would provide a little moment of truth for all those hidden additives and enhancers. Not necessarily so, says The Morning Claret.
Restaurants:
- As all eyes turn towards the city of love, GDM and I thought it might be nice to share a few of our favourites. Ditch the pop-ups and head here instead:
Le Rigmarole for a Giorgio-endorsed (!!) pizza in Paris.
The Butcher of Paris in the Marché des Enfants Rouge in the Marais
Folderol for ice cream (and wine)
Paul Bert for those seeking the classics
And, finally, Le Baratin for old school natural wine bistro in the 20th
(For a more complete look at France, check out Sue and Roger’s excellent list here.)
- Noma have launched their docuseries this month. I’m yet to find the time, but if you do, please report back!
- Meanwhile, The Bear dropped their chef-laden series three this month. Lee Tran Lam’s article on the cookbooks tickled me, particularly for the effort the set team had actually put into those fleeting glimpses of bookshelves – switching up the desert books to reflect the changes in the kitchen. God I love that cookbooks have survived the Kindle era so very successfully. (NB: this is a catching genre – Kamala Harris’s cookbooks were similarly analysed this week in Esquire.)
Words:
- Katie Worobeck shared her views on regenerative agriculture – “a practice that puts soil health and biodiversity at the forefront of agriculture system design …” While for many that means not tilling the soil, year long cover crops, thoughtful soil analysis, the reduction of inputs, and increase in biodiversity, Katie’s pissed to see the term coopted by industrial agriculture (noting, for example, that the producer of round up has a division dedicated to regenerative agriculture …) “I feel robbed of my words,” she says.
“After reflection,” Katie says, “it seems that another highly technical conception of agriculture is falling a bit short of the desired system transformation. I would argue what is missing, not only in regenerative agriculture, but in viticulture in general, is a robust and holistic political discourse around farming … sustainability is fundamentally a political process and that we should not shy away from including questions about social, economic and political systems in our thinking about ecological farming.” Agroecology is the system to watch, she concludes.
- While we’re on politics, you may enjoy Alicia Kennedy’s newsletter about Bourdain’s visit to Jerusalem for Parts Unknown. “Bourdain’s shows,” Alicia says, “such as the “Jerusalem” episode, will depict domesticity, it’s portrayed as a fact of life rather than the focal point. Perhaps that is the aspect of his work that allowed it to transcend a food television that has mainly sought to educate viewers on how to cook, but not on how food can help us talk to each other and think through complex issues.” It’s heartbreaking and poignant. Watch here.