17

Approximate number of times a cork oak tree may be harvested for wine stoppers over the tree’s 200 year life. It takes an individual cork oak tree 25 years before it can be stripped for the first time, and thereafter, the tree can be stripped of bark only every 9 years.  It is not until the third harvest that the cork reaches the high standard of quality necessary for wine stoppers. The first two harvests don’t go to waste—this cork becomes the raw material for flooring and insulation.