51. Wine Corks

The Economics of Everyday Things

Why do we use a specific kind of tree-bark tissue to seal up 70 percent of wine bottles? Zachary Crockett takes a sniff and gives the waiter a nod.

• SOURCES:
  • Carlos De Jesus, director of communications at Amorim Cork.

• RESOURCES:
  • "This Ancient Material Is Displacing Plastics and Creating a Billion-Dollar Industry," by Marta Vidal (The Washington Post, 2024).
  • "Troubled Times For Wine In 2023: Global Production And Consumption Shrinking," by Per and Britt Karlsson (Forbes, 2024).
  • "Three Studies Take A Look At Various Wine Bottle Closure Preferences," by Thomas Pellechia (Forbes, 2019).
  • "How Millennials (Almost) Killed the Wine Cork," by John Gifford (The Atlantic, 2016).