What is happening in the other countries growing cork oaks, notably Spain (23%) and Algeria (21%)?
Amorim sources cork in quantity from all three countries; for a time, Algeria was problematical because its cork forests were in regions subject to terrorism and guerrilla warfare, which made it difficult to do business there. That is changing now. What is their strategy to deal with screwcaps? Are they basically going to hold their breath and hope that some problems show up with them that will make them less acceptable to consumers than corks? Or do they expect some advances in processing that will significantly drop the rate of cork taint we now experience? Basing one’s strategy on the flaws of alternative closures would be easy, given that they have obviously failed to delivered the promised perfection, and cork does a remarkable job in 98 percent or 99 percent of cases. But that would imply choosing the lowest common denominator which, in turn, would be a tremendous disservice to wine makers, wine consumers, wine distributors and wine critics worldwide. Besides, such a negative att
