# Cork



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

You've probably never given a second thought to where the cork in your wine bottle came from, but chances are it came from the large forest of cork-oaks in southwest Spain known as the Alcornocales. This short film shows a team of skilled men carefully removing huge slabs of bark from the trees and loading it onto the backs of mules to be transported down to the nearest road.

I feel very privileged to have some of these men and their magnificent animals as my neighbours.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

.
Here in my dark corner of Spain the Alcornocales are a major part of “farming”. In the neighbouring village the cork is stored before travelling to wherever. We watch from the Finca the cork cutting which is every so many years, the trees are stunning shortly after the cut, the trunk is a beautiful mahogany colour. Even more trees are cut, as I understand it , across the border in Portugal.


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## bandit1250sa (Aug 18, 2020)

Alcalaina said:


> You've probably never given a second thought to where the cork in your wine bottle came from, but chances are it came from the large forest of cork-oaks in southwest Spain known as the Alcornocales. This short film shows a team of skilled men carefully removing huge slabs of bark from the trees and loading it onto the backs of mules to be transported down to the nearest road.
> 
> I feel very privileged to have some of these men and their magnificent animals as my neighbours.
> 
> ...


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

bandit1250sa said:


> wont play


How strange. It works on YouTube. Search for "Cuadrilla Pablo Aljibe 2020".


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## bandit1250sa (Aug 18, 2020)

Alcalaina said:


> How strange. It works on YouTube. Search for "Cuadrilla Pablo Aljibe 2020".


yep works straight from youtube cheers


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

I helped manage a cork harvest back in 2002 - from the initial clearance of the land through the harvest itself to the final weighing and receipt of payment. 

A very enjoyable time.

The most bizarre bit was following the (grossly overloaded) the lorry for several hours to the weighbridge to make sure they didn't surreptitiously unload some on the way. 

One of the 'sports' at the May feria involved loading a mule with cork and leading it around a course with none of the cork falling off. Not so easy as by then the corcheros were all extremely pi$$ed.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

jimenato said:


> I helped manage a cork harvest back in 2002 - from the initial clearance of the land through the harvest itself to the final weighing and receipt of payment.


Wow! So you know the whole process then. Presumably they didn't let you loose with an axe?


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Some years ago I was in Puerto Banus and there was a shop that sold the most fabulous clothes made of the thinnest possible cork lined with silk that showed through the holes in the cork. My mouth was watering looking at them but the prices were way way out of my reach.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Wow! So you know the whole process then. Presumably they didn't let you loose with an axe?


Certainly not! 

I did do a lot of ground clearance with a roughcutter - like a strimmer with a hard blade.

Those guys with the axes - cutting the cork bark from the trunks - are amazing. It has to be done in the full heat of high summer when the moisture content of the bark is at its lowest.


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## DonMarco (Nov 20, 2016)

Know it well. Been through the area a number of times on my Bike and always wondered how the trees survive without the bark.


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## DonMarco (Nov 20, 2016)




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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

DonMarco said:


> Know it well. Been through the area a number of times on my Bike and always wondered how the trees survive without the bark.


A new layer of bark starts growing almost immediately, provided the layer of cells known as the "capa madre" isn't damaged. (That's why Jimenato wasn't allowed to do any cutting - it's a highly skilled job!)


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Yes I have seen them do it, amazingly neat. Once was an article in the news that unqualified gitanos were moving around Andalucia and damaging trees by unskilled cutting.

Mentioned this week that cork prices this year are 20% lower due to falling wine sales.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Isobella said:


> Yes I have seen them do it, amazingly neat. Once was an article in the news that unqualified gitanos were moving around Andalucia and damaging trees by unskilled cutting.
> 
> Mentioned this week that cork prices this year are 20% lower due to falling wine sales.


We've had a fair bit of "industrial action" by local corcheros because, of course, the businesses recoup the cost of falling prices by paying the workers less. 

I haven't heard of any illicit cutting round here, although when I was researching for my book I discovered that the Ayuntamiento used to allocate the work on its own fincas to party supporters (PSOE), who weren't always the best qualified, and that caused a lot of damage as well as resentment. I don't know if that still goes on; I doubt it because it's a lot more closely scrutinised now.


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## DonMarco (Nov 20, 2016)

Alcalaina said:


> A new layer of bark starts growing almost immediately, provided the layer of cells known as the "capa madre" isn't damaged. (That's why Jimenato wasn't allowed to do any cutting - it's a highly skilled job!)


Given enought time to grow, is it possible to harvest the new bark again?


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

DonMarco said:


> Given enought time to grow, is it possible to harvest the new bark again?


Yes, I think it’s every five or so year’s. We have been here 7 and some local trees have been harvested twice


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

DonMarco said:


> Given enought time to grow, is it possible to harvest the new bark again?


Yes. The cork re-grows and after a number of years (9 I think) the tree can be re- harvested.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

The unit of measure of the harvested cork is the _quintal_ equivalent to 100lb or 46kg.

The quintal is widely used - being somewhere near 100 base units of mass.

Oddly in English the only equivalent in the UK is (was?) the hundredweight (112lbs) and even more oddly in the USA it is 100 kilograms.


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