Carbon Footprint of Wine Stoppers

That fresh-tasting SOFIA Blanc de Blancs (2006) from Francis Coppola that my friends and I shared while watching the sun set over Napa from the perspective of Russian Hill in San Francisco ... perfect for celebrating the newly negotiated salary for my internet ad-sales friend. But, alas, as often happens when we gather around the wine bottles, we enjoy the product but I confess to prompting a deeper look at the package too. In this case, the cork stopper used for this sparkling wine. "Cork," said my neighbor, "what a wasteful product." It took about two minutes to remind her that 1) cork is renewable 2) cork is lightweight 3) cork implies a premium product 4) cork was the original and authentic wine stopper, used for centuries, and 5) cork has a far more favorable environmental profile than almost any other wine stopper. If "Lessened Carbon Footprint" is the object, than the plastic and aluminium screw top closures have a long way to go in matching cork's win-win in this area. This is not a rant, this is fact.