Cortiça para a Frente!

The Rainforest Alliance raises a glass to Willamette Valley Vineyards, which is set to become the first winery in the world to use cork stoppers harvested from responsibly managed forestlands certified by the Rainforest Alliance to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. The winery, based in Turner, Oregon, was recently awarded FSC Chain-of-Custody certification by the Rainforest Alliance.
The Rainforest Alliance was responsible for awarding FSC certification at each step throughout the process, beginning with certifying the worlds first cork forest in 2005, later certifying the cork manufacturing facilities, owned by the Amorim Group, and now certifying Willamette Valley Vineyards to help achieve this global first in the wine industry.

Carlos de Jesus, marketing and communications director for Amorim & Irmaos S.A., the world’s largest cork processor and the first FSC-certified cork company, congratulated Willamette on its certification. “We would like to emphasize the unique role that natural cork plays in responding to the market demands for environmentally and socially responsible wine closures,” de Jesus said. “The wine industry is responding to a demand by informed consumers that is resulting in the conservation of fragile ecosystems and the reduction of the industry’s carbon footprint.”

The wine industry plays a critical role in maintaining the economic value of cork and the cork oak forests. Unless the commercial value of cork stoppers is maintained, there is a risk that cork oak landscapes could face an economic crisis, loss of biodiversity and an accelerated desertification process. Cork oak landscapes cover about 2.7 million hectares of land in Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. The cork forests in the Iberian Peninsula produce more than half the cork consumed worldwide. They are a biodiversity hot spot, home to endangered species and one of the last natural forest ecosystems in Western Europe. They also provide a vital source of income for tens of thousands of people.


Willamette Valley Vineyard’s cork stoppers will come from one of four currently FSC-certified cork forests, three of which were certified by the Rainforest Alliance, the first of which being Fruticor – a group of small landowners and managers – that was certified by the Rainforest Alliance in early 2005 in the Alentejo region of Portugal.

Why choose cork? Find out more here:
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/news/2005/why_cork.html

See photos of cork harvesting:
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/news/cork_slideshow/cork_slideshow_5.html