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Written by Charley Norkus
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 Genuine cork comes from cork oak trees that grow along the African and European Mediterranean coast. The bark from these trees can be carefully harvested every 8-14 years (acc. to 'How Stuff Works'.com) and from the strips are punched the corks that are used (less and less) as stoppers for bottles of wine and champagne. Cork is naturally resistant to rot, fire, and insects and is impermeable to gas and liquid, thus making it the perfect wine stopper. Unfortunately, because of the tremendous demand for cork and subsequent unfavorable growing conditions, a substitute has been introduced made of resin. These corks will undoubtedly become the future replacement for the real thing, but one hopes that they will continue to improve and take on more of the natural characteristics of the genuine item, e.g., absorbing some of the wine (note the purple color on the end of the real cork). Artificial corks do have much less tendency to break apart, but purists still bemoan them. One can almost hear them gasp at the latest innovation for stoppers now being used on actually some very fine wines - screwtops!
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