Passionate About Cork
We Corkologists are a passionate bunch, after all, we get to work with a totally natural and sustainable material that has myriad uses that extend far beyond its role as the most effective closure for wines and spirits.
Besides being waterproof, buoyant, elastic, fire resistant and unique in its appearance, cork is a naturally harvested material, originating in the cork oak forests of the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean basin.
The demand for cork supports one of the world’s highest levels of forest biodiversity, a unique and fragile ecosystem which constitutes a habitat for rare and even endangered species, like the Iberian lynx.
Cork harvesting helps the fight against global warming. How? At the age of twenty five the tree’s bark can be harvested every nine years, for a period of over 200 years. While the cork is growing it is capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But it gets more interesting: each time the cork is harvested, the tree absorbs more CO2 to aid in the bark regeneration process. This means regularly harvested cork trees store three to five times more CO2 than those left unharvested. Since the 1800’s, RANKIN has been fortunate custodian of 4,500 acres of majestic cork forests, sensitively managing our activities to ensure the health, diversity and prosperity of this unique ecosystem.
The passion of our Corkologists at RANKIN is shared by supreme Corkologist Sarah Oakson who puts the case for Cork beyond any doubt in this wonderfully informative video produced by APCOR, the Association Of Portuguese Cork Producers.